IC-NRI 


F  TRAVEL 


0URNEYS 


i    •      • 

I 


GIFT   OF 
H-D.LINCL'IST 


EDUCATION  DEPT. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY 


TO 


ENGLAND  AND  WALES 


BY 


MARIAN  M.  GEORGE 

7 


FOR  INTERMEDIATE  AND  UPPER 
GRADES 


• 

.  CHICAGO  . 

A.  FLANAGAN  COMPANY 


y  o  / 


COPYRIGHT,  1901 

BY 
A.  FLANAGAN  COMPANV 


Gift 

R.D 

EDUCATION  DEPT 


A  Little  Journey  to 
England. 


PART  I. 


LONDON  AND  LIVERPOOL. 

"A  snug  little  island! 
A  bright  little,  tight  little  island! 
Search  the  globe  round, 
And  none  can  be  found 
So  happy  as  this  little  island." 

You  and  I  may  not  agree  with  the  person  who 
wrote  this  bit  of  verse  about  England,  but  our  English 
ancestors  believed  it  firmly.  To  them  "Old  England" 
was  the  most  beautiful  spot  on  earth.  We  can  under- 
stand why  America  did  not  seem  an  attractive  country 
to  them,  for  they  endured  much  suffering  and  hardship 
during  the  first  few  years  they  spent  here. 

When  they  left  their  comfortable  homes  in  Eng- 
land and  came  to  America  they  found  but  a  wilder- 
ness. Much  of  the  time  their  lives  were  in  danger 
from  unfriendly  Indians,  and  in  addition  to  this  they 
sometimes  suffered  for  lack  of  food  and  other  necessi- 
ties, so  we  cannot  wonder  at  their  looking  back  upon 
England  as  a  happier  place  in  which  to  live. 

They  told  their  children  stories  of  the  pleasant 
years  spent  in  the  old  home  in  England,  and  these  chil- 
dren came  to  have  something  of  the  same  affection 
for  the  mother  country  as  the  parents.  To-day 

575825 


At  JJTTWS  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND, 


JUBILEE  PORTRAIT  OF  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND.  O 

the  name  and  pictured  face  of  England's  former 
queen,  Victoria,  are  almost  as  familiar  as  that  of  our  own 
president.  And  though  to  us  no  country  can  be  so 
dear  as  America,  no  foreign  land  can  be  so  interesting 
as  England,  the  home  of  our  ancestors. 

When  our  grandparents  came  to  the  place  where 
Chicago  now  stands,  they  found  but  a  frog  pond.  They 
came  west  in  wagons  and  it  took  them  weeks  to  make 
the  trip  from  the  Atlantic  Coast. 

If  these  pioneers  could  be  here  to-day  and  take  the 
trip  from  Chicago  to  New  York  on  the  "Pennsylvania 
Limited"  with  us,  their  eyes  would  open  wide  with 
astonishment  at  the  marvelous  changes  that  have 
taken  place. 

They  came  west  in  wagons.  We  are  leaving  the 
West  in  a  train  that  gives  the  comforts  and  freedom 
enjoyed  in  a  home.  We  are  not  obliged  to  remain  in 
one  compartment,  but  have  at  our  disposal  a  cafe,  a 
dining  room,  a  smoking  room,  a  parlor,  bed  rooms  and 
a  bath.  There  are  also  a  library  and  cosy  corners  for 
reading  and  lounging. 

If  one  wishes  to  write  letters  there  is  a  train  sten- 
ographer and  typewriter  to  call  upon,  and  the  mail  is 
collected  from  the  train.  What  more  could  the  most 
exacting  traveller  desire  ? 

There  is  an  observation  parlor  too,  where  one  may 
view  the  scenery  through  plate  glass  windows  until 
darkness  falls  about.  Swiftly  the  train  bears  us 

'  'Through  fertile  fields 
»And  pretty  vales, 
By  mountain  streams 
On  guarded  rails. 


6     .  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND. 

Here  pastures  green, 
There  marts  of  trade, 
Or  well-kept  farms 
And  woodland  shade." 

The  next  evening  finds  us  in  New  York — a  trip  that 
required  weeks  and  even  months  of  travel  seventy- 
five  years  ago.  We  can  sail  from  New  York  in  a  fast 
steamer  and  land  on  England's  shore  in  six  days, — a 
trip  that  would  also  have  taken  months  of  time  during 
the  life  of  our  great-great-grandparents.  What  fortu- 
nate people  we  are  to  live  in  the  twentieth  century. 
We  would  scarcely  know  how  to  get  along  without  the 
steam  cars  and  steamships. 


THE  VOYAGE. 

New  York  is  not  the  only  point  of  departure  for 
Europe,  but  it  is  the  principal  one.  From  this  port 
thirty  companies  send  steamers  every  week  to  Eur- 
opean ports. 

Our  steamer  lies  at  the  wharf,  clean,  flagged  and 
giving  signs  of  her  readiness  to  depart  by  letting  off 
steam. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND.  7 

As  the  hour  for  sailing  approaches,  the  wharf 
swarms  with  people,  of  all  ages  and  kinds.  Vendors 
of  steamer  chairs,  flowers,  pop-corn  and  candies, 
mingle  their  shouts  with  those  of  newsboys,  drivers 
of  baggage  wagons  and  coaches;  express  messengers 
and  telegraph  boys  hurry  through  the  crowds  with 
notes  and  gifts  of  fruit  and  flowers  for  departing  pas- 
sengers. 

On  board  the  vessel  the  crowd  is  even  greater  than 
on  shore.  Across  the  gang  plank  and  at  the  end 
stands  a  uniformed  officer,  who  directs  us  to  the  saloon 
or  parlor.  Cabin  boys  are  rushing  about  with  sat- 
chels, boxes  and  trunks. 

The  decks,  dining  room  and  saloon  are  filled  with 
people.  Some  of  these  are  passengers  and  others  are 
friends,  come  to  bid  them  good  bye.  Visitors  walk 
about  the  ship,  peering  into  the  state  rooms,  dining 
room  and  other  parts  of  the  ship  with  curious  eyes. 
Many  of  them  have  never  seen  an  ocean  steamer 
before. 

A  bell  rings  to  warn  them  that  it  is  time  to  go  ashore, 
and  the  next  minute  they  hurry  down  the  gang  plank 
while  their  friends  assemble  on  the  upper  deck.  The 
great  fog  horn  sounds;  the  last  pieces  of  baggage  are 
lowered  into  the  hull,  the  gang  planks  taken  up,  the 
cables  shipped  and  we  are  off  on  a  three  thousand 
mile  voyage. 

The  wharf  with  its  cheering  multitude  is  left  behind 
and  after  the  last  glimpse  of  the  harbor  we  retire  to 
our  state  rooms  to  arrange  our  belongings. 

The  call  to  lunch  comes  very  soon  after  leaving 
land  and  it  finds  us  ready  with  keen  appetites.  By 


8  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND. 

dinner  time,  however,  we  have  no  desire  to  even  look 
at  the  dinner  table.  We  feel  sure  we  shall  never  care 
to  eat  another  meal,  and  wish  we  were  back  on  land 
again.  Seasickness  has  driven  many  to  their  state 
rooms. 

The  old  ship-doctor  walks  about  among  the  sick 
passengers  and  tells  them  that  if  they  wish  to  be  well 
at  sea,  they  must  laugh  and  keep  out  of  doors.  We 
take  his  advice  and  soon  again  enjoy  the  voyage. 

The  first  morning  out  is  a  great  delight  to  the  for- 
tunate traveler  who  is  not  seasick.  After  a  bath,  a 
cup  of  coffee  and  a  biscuit,  one  is  ready  for  an  early 


OUR  DINING  ROOMf- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND.  9 

walk  on  deck.  There  are  not  many  out  at  this  time 
and  it  is  the  best  part  of  the  day  for  a  promenade. 

Breakfast  follows  the  morning  walk  and  this  dis- 
posed of,  every  one  not  prostrated  by  sea-sickness 
gathers  on  deck  again.  Some  wrap  themselves  in  rugs 
and  shawls  and  stretch  out  on  steamer  chairs  to  re- 
main for  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  Here  they  read, 
talk,  nap,  and  watch  the  water. 

Others  vary  the  monotony  by  playing  quoits,  hop- 
scotch, bean  bag,  shuffle  board,  checkers  or  cards. 
By  and  by  the  band  appears  and  for  an  hour  there  is 
music.  Then  the  deck  steward  brings  cups  of  coffee 
or  beef  tea  to  those  who  wish  refreshments.  Indeed 
it  seems  as  if  one  does  little  else  but  eat,  for  five  meals 
are  served  each  day. 

The  evening  is  the  time  for  gaiety.  The  dining 
room  is  brilliantly  lighted  with  electric  lights  and  dur- 
ing the  evening  meal  an  orchestra  plays.  After  din- 
ner we  stroll  out  on  the  deck  for  the  fresh  breeze  that 
is  always  blowing. 

The  nights  are  beautiful  arid  everyone  remains  on 
deck  as  late  as  possible  to  watch  the  starry  skies  and 
phosphorescent  sparkle  of  the  light-flooded  sea. 
When  the  wind  blows  a  stiff  breeze  the  sea'  rises,  and 
at  times  the  ship  seems  almost  engulfed  in  the  moun- 
tain billows.  The  days  are  long.  The  twilight  con- 
tinues so  late  that  at  9  o'clock  in  the  evening  it  seems 
not  much  later  than  seven  at  home.  Time  is  kept 
by  bells.  We  are  puzzled  at  first  at  the  difference  be- 
tween the  time  shown  by  our  watches  and  that  of  the 
ship,  but  find  that  we  h^ve  gained  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  minutes  a  day  by  sailing  eastward. 


10  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 

Some  mornings  are  enlivened  by  a  life-boat  or  fire 
drill,  or  a  distant  view  of  a  passing  ship,  but  the  most 
exciting  incident  is  an  encounter  with  an  iceberg.  A 
long  way  off  it  appears  like  the  back  of  a  great  camel. 
A  closer  view  reveals  a  monster  mass  of  ice,  over  a 
hundred  feet  rising  out  of  the  water. 

A  ship  officer  tells  us  that  the  ship  sometimes 
passes  a  hundred  of  these  fragments  of  Arctic  glaciers 
in  a  single  ocean  trip.  We  are  not  alarmed  by  the 
iceberg,  since  it  is  almost  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away, 
but  we  are  glad  that  there  is  no  fog  at  this  particular 
time.  A  collision  with  one  of  these  would  probably 
destroy  our  vessel. 

We  never  tire  of  watching  the  birds  that  accom- 
pany the  ship.  There  are  some  about  the  size  of  spar- 
rows, known  as  "Mother  Gary's  Chickens."  The  sail- 
ors believe  that  certain  disaster  would  come  to  their 
vessel  if  one  of  these  birds  were  injured,  and  are  care- 
ful not  to  hurt  them. 

As  we  near  the  end  of  our  voyage,  large  flocks  of 
sea  gulls  sail  about  our  ship.  They  are  beautiful 
birds,  about  as  large  as  crows.  At  times  they  settle 
on  the  water  and  ride  the  waves,  and  then  suddenly 
arise  and  dart  away,  touching  the  waves  with  the  tips 
of  their  wings. 

The  voyage  slips  rapidly  away,  and  the  coast  of 
Ireland  draws  nearer  and  nearer.  The  next  to  the 
last  evening  the  passengers  give  an  entertainment  for 
the  benefit  of  a  sailor  who  was  injured  during  the  last 
voyage  made  by  our  ship.  Some  of  the  passengers 
give  selections  on  the  piano  or  violin;  others  sing,  re- 
cite or  lecture,  and  a  very  pleasant  evening  is  passes 


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BRITISH  ISLES. 


A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND.  13 

Then  comes  the  last  night  at  sea,  when  all  gather 
on  deck  and  sing,  "Home,  Sweet  Home."  Far  away 
on  the  horizon  flash  the  lights  which  sentinel  Ireland. 
In  the  morning  the  ship  stops  at  Queenstown  for  mail 
and  passengers,  and  then  speeds  on  its  way  once  more 
for  Liverpool,  where  we  land. 

The  island  for  which  we  are  bound  is  one  of  a  group 
that  lies  off  the  northwestern  coast  of  Europe.  Eng- 
land is  the  largest  of  the  five  thousand  isles  that  are 
included  in  the  British  Isles.  The  island  of  Great 
Britain  is  divided  into  England,  Wales  and  Scotland. 
England  is  the  most  important  part  of  this  island.  It 
contains  London,  the  capital  of  the  British  Empire, 
and  Liverpool,  one  of  the  greatest  seaports  of  the 
world. 

We  have  planned  to  spend  our  first  month  abroad 
in  these  two  cities,  another  month  in  other  parts  of 
England  and  Wales,  a  third  in  Scotland  and  a  fourth 
in  Ireland. 

LIVERPOOL. 

England  at  last!  How  glad  we  are  to  enter  the 
harbor  and  feel  the  solid  earth  beneath  us  once  more. 
We  have  been  told  that  Liverpool  is  one  of  the  great- 
est seaports  in  the  world,  and  are  quite  ready  to  be- 
lieve it  when  we  see  its  wonderful  docks.  It  is  a  city 
of  ships. 

There  are  acres  of  masts  and  funnels,  and  the  flags 
of  all  nations  are  fluttering  over  them. 

We  do  not  understand  at  first  why  there  are  so  few 
American  flags  among  them,  but  learn  later  that  the 
American  people,  as  a  rule,  use  English  ships.  Eng- 


14  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND. 

land  owns  half  the  merchant  vessels  and  steamships 
of  the  world,  other  nations  employing  them  to  trans- 
port goods  and  passengers,  instead  of  building  vessels 
of  their  own. 

Great  Britain  has  twice  as  many  vessels  as  the 
United  State-,  and  London  and  Liverpool  together 
have  almost  three  times  as  much  commerce  as  our 
greatest  seaport,  New  York. 

America  develops  trade  at  home,  and  leaves  the 
commerce  of  the  seas  to  England.  Ours  is  a  man- 
ufacturing and  agricultural  nation.  We  have  plenty 
of  land  and  a  rich  home  market.  England  lacks  land 
but  has  the  seas  and  a  great  foreign  market. 

It  is  said  that  more  ships  enter  Liverpool  harbor 
yearly  than  any  other  port  in  the  world,  and  that  on 
its  docks  may  be  found  sailors  and  merchant  traders 
from  every  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

There  are  steamers  in  the  harbor  bringing  cargoes 
of  beef  and  grain  from  the  plains  of  South  America, 
beef  and  mutton  from  Australia,  sugar,  spices  and 
fruits  from  the  East  and  West  Indies;  fish  and  oil 
from  the  north,  gums,  ivory  and  hundreds  of  other 
things  from  goodness  knows  where.  It  is  a  wonderful 
sight  to  look  down  the  Mersey  River  upon  this  army 
of  ^hips  coming  in  with  the  tide. 

Liverpool  is  built  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Mer- 
sey, a  tidal  river.  The  tide  rises  and  falls  about  fif- 
teen feet,  and  this  has  made  it  necessary  to  enclose 
the  docks  and  build  a  landing  stage  for  the  use  of  pas- 
sengers from  the  great  ocean  steamers. 

Liverpool  has  seven  miles  of  fine  docks,  faced  with 
stone.  They  enclose  almost  three  hundred  and  fifty 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND.  15 

acres  of  water.  To  walk  around  these  would  take  a 
day ,  but  one  can  ride  a  long  distance  beside  them  on 
the  electric  railway  and  get  a  good  idea  of  what  they 
are  like. 

Different  docks  are  used  for  different  purposes. 
Some  are  for  grain,  some  for  lumber,  others  for  cot- 
ton, and  so  on  through  a  long  list.  The  largest  one  is 
Alexandra  dock,  named  after  the  queen.  It  covers 
over  forty  acres.  There  are  sheds  connected  with 
these  docks,  and  in  and  about  them  crowds  of  busy 
men.  Wagons,  vans  and  drays  loaded  with  goods  of 
every  kind  are  moving  back  and  forth. 

Trains  of  "goods  vans"  are  also  there  being  loaded 
and  unloaded.  The  English  have  no  freight  trains 
such  as  ours.  The  freight  is  piled  into  open  vans  and 
covered  with  tarpaulin.  The  van  is  a  short,  four- 
wheeled  wagon,  something  like  a  coal  car  but  about  a 
fourth  as  large. 

There  are  monstrous  brick  warehouses  where  goods 
are  stored  to  be  shipped  or  reshipped  to  other  parts  of 
the  world.  Liverpool's  chief  trading  port  is  America. 
Eigland  sends  to  the  United  States  and  to  the  Eng- 
lish colonies  for  cotton,  grains,  live  stock  and  tobacco. 
In  return  she  sends  out  manufactured  articles  of  wool, 
cotton  and  iron.  The  iron  and  steel  goods  are  sent  to 
Liverpool  from  other  cities;  coal  and  salt  from  the 
south  and  south-west  part  of  England. 

Liverpool  seems  much  like  a  busy  city  in  the  States. 
There  are  few  ancient  landmarks  or  interesting  build- 
ings. The  most  magnificent  structure  is  St,  George's 
Hall,  which  is  said  to  contain  one  of  the  finest  organs 
in  the  world.  We  will  not  remain  to  hear  it  for  we 


16  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 

wish  to  hurry  on  to  London.  Few  travellers  remain 
here  long,  as  there  is  little  to  interest  them  aside  from 
the  docks. 

But  this  we  have  learned,  Liverpool  is  the  most 
densely  populated  city  in  the  world.  •  It  is  also  the 
chief  emigrant  station  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  great- 
est cotton  market  in  the  world. 

TRAVELING  IN  ENGLAND. 

Before  taking  the  train  for  London  we  must  find 
our  baggage,  which  is  in  the  inspection  shed.  This  is  a 
big  enclosure  on  the  wharf,  with  room  for  hundreds  of 
trunks.  Every  piece  is  labeled  with  the  name  and 
destination  of  its  owner;  so  it  is  not  hard  to  find  ours. 

The  trunks  marked  London  are  put  in  a  place  by 
themselves,  while  we  wait  for  the  custom  house  in- 
spectors to  examine  them.  The  porter  unstraps  the 
leather  bands  and  throws  the  trunks  open.  The  inspec- 
tor looks  at  the  things  and  we  declare  that  there  is 
nothing  there  on  which  we  should  pay  a  duty.  Tobacco, 
spirits  and  reprints  of  English  books  are  the  forbidden 
things.  The  porter  then  loads  our  trunks  on  a  truck 
and  takes  them  to  a  "goods  van"  of  the  waiting  train 
that  is  to  take  us  to  London.  No  check  is  given  to 
us.  The  railroad  companies  do  not  issue  them.  Each 
passenger  must  be  on  hand  to  pick  out  his  baggage 
when  his  journey's  end  is  reached. 

The  stubby  little  English  railroad  carriages  do  not 
compare  very  favorably  with  our  palace  cars,  but  one 
finds  them  comfortable.  America  is  a  country  of  great 
distances,  where  a  journey  of  four  or  five  days  is  no 
uncommon  experience.  One  needs  for  these  long 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND.  17 

journeys  every  convenience  and  luxury  of  toilet  to 
make  the  trip  endurable. 

But  in  England  the  distances  are  short,  the  major- 
ity of  journeys  not  requiring  more  than  three  hours. 
One  is  very  seldom  required  to  pass  a  night  aboard  a 
train.  So  you  see  the  necessity  for  conveniences  is 
not  so  urgent. 

The  English  people  speak  of  their  cars  as  carriages. 
The  carriages  are  divided  into  three  sections;  first, 
second  and  third  class.  The  first  class  is  the  most  ex- 
pensive and  is  occupied  by  the  wealthy.  These  cars 
are  upholstered  in  cloth.  The  second  class  are  not 
quite  so  fine,  and  the  third  class  have  brussels  covered 
cushions  in  place  of  cloth. 

A  section  has  two  long  seats  facing  each  other,  as 
in  our  horse  cars.  The  windows  are  at  the  end 
of  the  sections  instead  of  at  the  side.  The  section  is 
locked  between  stations.  Our  tickets  are  taken  by  the 
guard  at  the  end  of  the  journey,  instead  of  the  begin- 
ning. 

Going  to  Liverpool,  we  sit  in  one  of  the  saloon  car- 
riages, in  which  passengers  holding  first  class'  tickets 
are  allowed  to  ride.  In  the  middle  of  the  car  is  a 
drawing  room  provided  with  reading  tables.  There  is 
a  dressing  room  at  each  end  of  the  car,  one  for  gentle- 
men and  one  for  ladies.  If  we  desire  anything  we 
have  but  to  touch  one  of  the  many  electric  bells  of  the 
car.  and  an  attendant  enters  and  asks  what  we  wish. 
There  are  only  two  stops  between  Liverpool  and  Lon- 
don, a  distance  of  two  hundred  miles.  This  will  take 
us  over  four  hours.  There  is  no  dining  car,  so  we  tele- 
graph ahead  to  Crewe  for  lunch.  When  we  arrive  at 


18  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

this  place  a  boy  at  the  station  will  bring  it  to  us  in 
wicker  baskets. 

Now  we  are  off  and  rushing  along  at  the  rate  of 
fifty  miles  an  hour.  The  railroad  track  does  not  cross 
the  streets,  but  runs  below  or  above  them  to  avoid 
danger  of  accidents.  The  fare  is  two  cents  a  mile. 

We  cannot  describe  the  beauty  of  the  country  in 
England,  but  it  does  our  eyes  good,  and  we  feast  them 
upon  it.  Through  vales  and  along  silver  streams, 
across  farms  and  wooded  lands  the  train  flies  all 
too  rapidly.  We  get  only  glimpses  of  poppied  hedges, 
daisy-starred  fields,  patches  of  purple  foxglove,  ivy- 
covered  walls  and  cottages.  Here  and  there  the  spires 
of  a  country  church  or  a  little  village  show  through 

the  trees. 

LONDON. 

Here  we  are  in  London.  The  roar  and  rumble  of 
its  busy  streets  greet  us  as  we  step  from  the  cars  into 
the  station.  What  a  dreary,  lonesome  place  it  is.  It 
is  not  so  large  a  depot  as  the  one  in  Boston.  That  is 
said  to  be  the  largest  in  the  world. 

Who  are  these  splendid  looking  men  in  fine  uni- 
forms walking  about?  Only  station  and  hotel  porters! 
They  look  important  enough  to  be  generals,  and  we 
hesitate  to  ask  them  to  assist  us. 

The  streets  of  central  London  are  so  crowded  with 
traffic  that  underground  railways  have  been  built  in 
that  part  of  the  city.  These  roads  run  in  tunnels 
forty,  fifty  and  sometimes  a  hundred  feet  under- 
ground. This  is  to  avoid  clashing  with  the  system 
of  sewers,  gas  and  water  mains,  electric  wire  conduits 
and  other  pipes  necessary  in  a  great  city. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 


19 


Wherever  stations  are  built  in  the  business  part  of 
the  city,  subways  are  built  for  passengers.      Smoke 

and  bad  air  in  the 
tunnel  is  avoided 
by  using  electric- 
ity to  run  the 
trains. 

At  the  station 
we  take  hansom 
cabs  and  in  a  few 
minutes  are  at 
the  end  of  our 
journey. 

OUR    HOTEL. 

There  are  many 
fine  hotels  in  Lon- 
don, similar  to  the 
one  you  see  in 
this  picture,  but 
as  these  places  are 
more  apt  to  afford 
style  than  com- 
fort we  decide  in 
favor  of  a  more 
modest  one  for 
our  headquarters. 
The  one  selec- 
ted is  in  the  very 
heart  of  London.  Near  us  is  Trafalgar  Square,  and 
everything  centers  about  Trafalgar  Square.  Not  far 
away  are  the  Charing  Cross  and  the  Golden  Cross 


VICTORIA  HOTEL,  LONDON. 


20  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND. 

hotels  that  Dickens   has  made  famous  in  his  stories. 

The  bedrooms  in  this  place  are  large,  dark  and 
dingy  looking.  There  are  four  post-beds  with  cur- 
tains, such  as  our  great  grand-parents  used  to  own, 
and  furniture  so  ancient  that  its  proper  place  would 
be  a  curiosity  shop. 

Our  rooms  are  lighted  by  candles,  for  gaslight  in 
most  English  hotels  is  only  to  be  found  in  the  halls 
and  public  rooms.  The  candles  one  uses  are  charged 
in  the  bill,  and  so  many  travellers  carry  candles  about 
with  them  in  their  luggage  to  avoid  paying  for  a  new 
one  every  night. 

We  are  told  we  can  have  breakfast  served  to  us  in 
our  rooms,  and  a  servant  comes  to  take  our  order  for 
this  morning  meal. 

There  are  many  hotels  in  the  States  said  to  be  con- 
ducted on  the  "European  plan.  "  We  have  supposed 
that  this  meant  serving  meals  after  the  fashion  of  the 
people  in  Europe.  But  it  doesn't — at  least  not  always. 
When  we  order  breakfast  we  find  it  different  from  what 
it  is  in  the  States. 

We  tell  the  waiter  that  we  want  a  plain  breakfast 
and  he  brings  us  two  boiled  eggs,  a  roll  as  hard  as  a 
paving  stone,  a  little  marmalade  and  a  pot  of  coffee. 
For  this  we  pay  two  shillings  and  six  pence,  or  half  a 
crown,  which  is  sixty  cents  in  our  money.  If  we  order 
a  regular  breakfast  we  will  get  ham  and  eggs,  steak 
or  bacon,  rolls  and  coffee.  At  the  bake  shops  we  can 
buy  coffee  and  rolls  in  the  morning  for  six  or  nine 
pence. 

At  noon  the  restaurants  are  all  open,  where  one 
can  order  anything  one  wishes  just  as  in  the  States. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND.  21 

Such  excellent  bacon  and  mutton  we  have  nowhere 
in  the  world.  And  the  marmalade!  Surely  nothing 
better  was  ever  made.  We  wonder  why  we  cannot 
get  any  like  it  at  home. 

The  dinner  served  between  six  and  eight  in  the 
evening  is  a  very  formal  meal.  In  the  larger  hotels  it 
consists  of  eight  courses  and  one  spends  an  hour  and 
a  half  to  two  hours  at  table  at  these  places.  Everyone 
appears  in  evening  dress,  but  at  the  smaller  hotels  and 
taverns,  tourists  may  dress  as  they  like. 

After  dinner  we  open  our  map  of  London  and  our 
guide  books  and  plan  the  next  day's  sight  seeing. 

WHAT  OUR  HAP  SHOWS  US. 

Our  map  shows  us  that  London  lies  on  both  sides 
of  the  Thames,  and  in  parts  of  four  counties.  Middle- 
sex and  Essex  are  on  the  north,  and  Surrey  and  Kent 
on  the  south.  The  most  important  and  interesting 
parts  of  the  city  are  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river, 
while  the  part  south  of  the  river  is  devoted  to  manu- 
facturing and  residences. 

The  north  side  is  divided  into  the  East  End  and 
the  West  End,  Temple  Bar  being  the  dividing  line. 
This  Temple  Bar  is  neither  a  temple  nor  a  bar.  It  was 
at  one  time  an  old  city  landmark  or  stone  which  sepa- 
rated the  city  of  London  and  the  city  of  Westmin- 
ster. The  old  bar  is  now  gone,  but  another  has  been 
put  in  its  place. 

We  have  often  seen  this  old  bar  mentioned  in  his- 
tory. It  was  formerly  the  custom  to  close  and  lock 
this  bar  when  the  sovereign  of  England  approached 
the  city  of  London.  The  queen's  herald  approached 


22  A  TJTTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND. 

and  asked  for  admission.  The  gates  were  then  un- 
locked and  thrown  open,  and  the  keys  of  the  city  pre- 
sented to  the  queen.  Queen  Victoria  knocked  at  this 
old  gate  during  jubilee  week  in  1897. 

To  the  east  of  Temple  Bar  we  find  the  port,  the 
docks,  custom  house,  bank  and  royal  exchange.  Fur- 
ther out  toward  East  End  are  places  known  as  Mile 
End  Road,  and  Whitechapel,  which  is  the  poor  dis- 
trict of  London. 

West  of  Temple  Bar  are  Westminster  Abbey,  the 
Houses  of  Parliament,  the  Queen's  Palace,  government 
offices,  clubs,  museums  and  picture  galleries.  There 
are  to  be  found  the  parks  also,  and  the  homes  of  the 
wealthy  and  aristocratic  people  of  the  city. 

If  we  keep  these  things  in  mind,  it  will  be  easy  to 
make  our  way  about  and  find  what  we  want. 

WHAT  OUR  GUIDE  TELLS  US. 

When  we  tell  our  guide  that  we  have  a  whole 
month  in  which  to  see  London,  he  tells  us  that  it  will 
give  time  but  for  a  glimpse.  One  might  spend  a  life- 
time in  studying  the  city,  and  then  know  but  a  small 
part.. 

If  we  could  take  in  the  whole  city  at  a  glance,  we 
would  see  three  thousand  miles  of  streets,  and  six 
millions  of  people.  We  would  see  an  area  of  121 
square  miles,  and  a  city  twice  the  size  and  double  the 
population  of  Greater  New  York. 

Let  us  stop  for  a  minute  to  think  what  it  means 
when  he  tells  us  that  in  their  London  Town  are  more 
Roman  Catholics  than  in  Rome,  more  Jews  than  in 
Palestine,  more  Scotchmen  than  in  Aberdeen,  more 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND. 


2'6 


CHEAPSIDE 


24  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 

Welchmen  than   in  Cardiff,   more    Irishmen  than  in 
Belfast. 

There  are  750  miles  of  railway  in  this  metropolis. 
Its  streets  end  to  end  would  extend  3,000  miles. 
There  are  over  800,000  dwelling  houses,  1,500 
churches,  and  1,700  coffee  houses.  The  streets  are 
lighted  by  over  a  million  gas  lamps,  and  guarded  by 
over  15,000  policemen. 

THE  LONDON  BUS. 

The  best  way  to  see  London  is  from  the  upper 
deck  of  an  omnibus.  This  'bus  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant, and  perhaps  most  popular,  conveyances 
used  by  the  people.  There  are  more  than  one  hun- 
dred separate  lines  which  reach  every  part  of  London, 
between  8  o'clock  and  midnight.  They  all  keep  to  the 
left,  and  stop  at  the  corners  of  the  streets,  and  at 
many  other  points  to  discharge  and  take  on  passen- 
gers. 

Here  is  one  coming  down  the  street  now.  Let  us 
take  it  for  a  ride  through  the  city.  Upon  the  roof  of 
the  car  is  a  platform  built  out  in  an  extended  way 
slightly  over  its  body,  upon  which  are  placed  seats, 
arranged  to  accommodate  from  sixteen  to  twenty  per- 
sons. The  driver  sits  in  front,  and  the  top  of  the  'bus 
is  reached  by  a  winding  stairway  with  an  iron  railing 
to  the  back  of  the  'bus. 

The  sides  of  the  vehicle  are  covered  with  brightly 
colored  advertising  posters.  The  'bus  is  engineered 
by  a  conductor,  who  stands  on  the  rear  platform  and 
collects  fares.  This  fare  varies  from  a  penny  to  a  six- 
pence, according  to  the  length  of  the  ride,  but  for  the 


A    LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND.  25 

average  distance  is  2J  pence.  The  London  General 
Omnibus  Company  collects  90,000,000  fares  in  a  year. 
The  seats  on  top  are  almost  always  taken  first  un- 
less it  be  rainy  weather.  The  inside  seats  cost  a  penny 
more,  while  the  view  from  the  windows  is  not  so 
good  as  from  the  top  of  the  vehicle.  There  is  no  over- 


crowding. When  a  car  is  full  the  conductor  admits 
no  more  passengers.  We  wish  this  plan  might  be 
adopted  at  home. 

A  ride  through  the  streets  of  Chicago  on  a  convey- 
ance of  this  kind,  would  be  more  interesting  and  less 
tiresome  than  one  afforded  by  a  cable  car  or  elevated 
train,  where  one  is  often  obliged  to  stand  and  hold  on 
to  a  strap  to  keep  from  being  thrown  to  the  floor. 

From  our  safe,  high  perch  atop  the  -bus,  we  note 
our  cabman  and  his  ways.  He  is  neatly  dressed  and 
clean,  which  is  more  than  we  can  say  of  many  cabmen 


26  A.    LITTLE    JOURNEY    TO    ENGLAND. 

in  the  States.  He  is  polite,  too,  and  very  willingly 
points  out  to  us  the  many  places  of  interest  along  the 
way. 

The  London  cabman  is  a  fine  horseman,  and  never 
lashes  and  abuses  his  beast.  He  carefully  drives  and 
gently  guides  and  speaks  to  his  sleek,  stout,  dignified, 
large-footed  and  slow-moving  Norman  horse.  Then 
the  'bus  conductor — how  pleasant,  good-natured  and 
polite  he  is.  When  we  give  our  fare,  he  says  "thank 
you/ '  and  the  same  to  every  other  passenger.  We 
wonder  how  many  times  a  day  he  says  this  word.  He 
never  seems  to  omit  it.  It  must  mount  up  into  the 
hundreds  by  the  time  his  day's  work  is  done;  but 
everyone  feels  the  pleasanter  for  his  civility. 

There  are  cabs,  too,  everywhere.  It  is  said  that 
there  are  ten  thousand  of  them  and  about  twenty 
thousand  hansoms  daily  employed  in  the  streets  of 
London. 

Another  kind  of  conveyance  which  we  often  see  is 
the  drag,  a  high,  four-wheeled  carriage  something  like 
a  tally-ho  coach. 

LONDON  STREETS. 

The  streets  of  London  are  the  best  paved  of  any 
city  in  the  world.  They  are  kept  clean  by  being 
washed  with  a  fire  hose  every  morning,  and  yet  they 
are  dirty  for  walking,  because  of  the  changeable 
weather.  The  sun  shines  a  little  while  and  then  it 
rains,  and  the  constant  travel  makes  the  walking  rather 
disagreeable. 

Mud  and  filth  are  never  allowed  to  accumulate. 
This  refuse  is  swept  from  the  asphalt  streets  by  nim- 


A   LITTLE    JOURNEY    TO    ENGLAND.  27 

ble-footed  boys  in  white  coats.  With  brush  and  tray 
in  hand  they  are  constantly  darting  in  and  out  among 
the  horses  and  vehicles  of  the  crowded  thoroughfares. 
Most  of  these  boys  are  from  orphans'  homes,  and  other 
charitable  institutions. 

At  almost  every  corner,  too,  there  is  a  crossing 
sweeper.  Sometimes  this  is  a  boy  or  girl,  but  oftener 
an  old  man  or  woman  too  feeble  to  earn  a  living  in 
any  other  way.  Day  after  day  and  year  after  year 
they  stand  at  the  same  posts.  The  living  won  in  this 
way  is  a  very  scant  one,  for  they  are  dependent  on 
the  pennies  and  half  pennies  dropped  into  their  hands 
by  the  people  who  hurry  by. 

London  streets  are  narrow  and  crooked  and  run 
into  each  other  in  a  most  perplexing  way.  Where  four 
or  five  streets  converge  into  one  point  or  circle  they 
call  it  circus;  such  as  Ludgate  Circus,  Picadilly  Circus, 
Oxford  Circus,  etc. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  make  our  way  about  at 
first,  but  the  policemen  are  polite  and  helpful,  and 
cheerfully  direct  us  to  where  we  should  go.  There  are 
times  when  even  the  people  who  have  lived  in  London 
all  their  lives  cannot  find  their  way  about.  This  is 
during  the  foggy  weather.  It  is  then  necessary  to 
light  the  streets  with  gas  for  days  at  a  time. 

There  is  one  curious  thing  about  London  that  re- 
minds us  of  an  old  saying  that  u  Birds  of  a  feather 
flock  together. "  People  of  the  same  nationality  or 
those  of  the  same  profession  or  trade  live  in  the  same 
streets  or  district.  The  French  live  in  one  neighbor- 
hood, the  Germans  in  another. 

Lawyers  live  at  Lincoln's  Inn  and  the  Temple;  sur- 


28 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND. 


A   LITTLE    JOURNEY    TO  ENGLAND.  29 

geons  and  dentists  in  George  and  Burlington  streets; 
doctors  in  Harley  street,  etc.  Then  the  milkmen  live 
on  Milk  Street,  the  men  who  deal  in  honey  on  Honey 
Street,  etc. 

Trafalgar  Square  is  the  very  heart  of  the  city. 
Every  thing  starts  from  there  and  centers  around  it. 
Standing  by  the  Nelson  Monument  we  see  the  most 
wonderful  sight  which  London  can  give  us — its  crowds 
of  people.  One  wonders  how  the  city  can  furnish  roofs 
to  cover  so  many. 

There  are  cabs  and  buses  and  hansoms  too,  vehi- 
cles of  all  kinds  and  descriptions,  three,  four  and  five 
abreast.  The  procession  is  endless  and  keeps  up  day 
and  night,  or  at  least  a  great  part  of  the  night. 

This  square  was  named  for  England's  great  naval 
hero,  Lord  Nelson.  It  is  his  statue  you  see  on  the  top 
of  that  high  column.  It  has  been  almost  one  hundred 
years  since  he  won  his  famous  victory  over  the  French 
and  Spanish  fleets  at  Lake  Trafalgar,  off  the  coast  of 
Spain.  There  are  other  statues  of  brave  soldiers  in 
this  square  also,  and  one  of  George  IV,  one  of 
England's  former  kings.  On  the  northern  side  of  this 
square  is  the  National  Gallery,  which  contains  a  fine 
collection  of  pictures. 

A  little  south  of  the  square  is  a  statue  of  King 
Charles  I.  This  marks  a  place  called  Charing  Cross. 
Back  of  this  is  a  story.  Everything  in  England,  you 
will  find,  has  a  story.  There  is  no  cross  there,  but 
there  was  once  upon  a  time.  It  was  called  Charing 
Cross  in  honor  of  Eleanor,  the  wife  of  King  Edward  I. 
She  died  in  the  north  of  England,  and  her  husband 
had  her  body  carried  to  Westminster  Abbey. 


30 


A    LITTLE    JOURNEY    TO   ENGLAND. 


Every  evening  during  this  journey  her  body  rested 
in  the  market  place  of  some  town.  Wherever  it  rested 
the  king  afterward  had  a  beautiful  cross  erected.  The 
last  evening  of  the  journey  the  bier  rested  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Charing,  which  is  now  a  part  of  London,  near 
Trafalgar  Square.  So  now  you  know  why  the  name 
clings  to  the  place  even  though  the  cross  is  gone. 


THE  STRAND,  LONDON. 

From  Charing  Cross  we  enter  the  Strand,  one  of  the 
busiest  and  most  crowded  streets  of  London.  On  this 
street  are  the  finest  theaters  of  London,  the  law  courts, 
and  many  of  the  newspaper  offices  and  shops.  The 
street  is  called  Strand  because  this  was  the  road  near 
est  to  the  shore  or  strand  of  the  Thames  River. 


A    LITTLE    JOURNEY    TO   ENGLAND.  31 

Passing  down  the  Strand  we  come  to  London's 
Courts,  or  the  Royal  Courts  of  Justice.  For  centuries 
this  has  been  the  place  of  England's  celebrated  school 
of  law.  The  building  is  a  huge  one,  nearly  500  feet  in 
length,  and  contains  eleven  hundred  chambers  or 
apartments,  beside  the  large  central  hall  and  nineteen 
court-rooms.  Many  lawyers  and  students  of  law  live 
in  this  building,  as  students  live  in  colleges. 

The  Strand  now  runs  into  Fleet  Street,  Temple  Bar 
marking  the  place  where  the  one  street  ends  and  the 
other  begins. 

Fleet  Street  is  one  of  the  great  thoroughfares  where 
most  of  the  daily  papers  are  published.  Then  come 
Regent  and  Oxford  Streets,  the  two  dry  goods  centers, 
and  Cheapside,  the  most  crowded  of  them  all. 

The  traffic  of  this  street  is  one  of  the  sights  of  Lon- 
don. What  a  hurly-burly  and  crush  of  cabs,  hansoms, 
hand  carts,  wagons,  buses  and  vans  in  one  narrow 
street.  It  seems  as  if  all  the  shops  in  the  world  are 
sending  their  goods  along  this  old  market-way  of 
Cheapside. 

Cheapside  means  market  place,  but  it  is  now  noted 
for  its  stores  rather  than  its  market  place.  From  this 
street  we  notice  a  number  of  streets  running  to  left 
and  right,  named  Poultry  street,  Wood,  Bread  and 
Milk  streets;  these  we  are  told  have  been  named  after 
the  dealers  by  whom  they  are  occupied. 

Leaving  Cheapside  we  ride  down  Poultry  street  to 
see  the  place  where  the  London  people  tell  us 
Thomas  Hood,  the  poet,  was  born.  Do  you  remember 
what  he  says  about  this  house? 

Milk  street  is  also  celebrated  as  the  birth  place  of 


32 


LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


Sir  Thomas  More,  an  author  and  a  cardinal.  Do  you 
know  what  it  means  to  be  a  cardinal?  There  on 
Bread  street  lived  the  famous  John  Milton,  whose 
"Paradise  Lost"  you  have  seen  in  your  father's  li- 
brary. 

So  you  see  that  these  streets,  tho  possessing  com- 
mon names,  are  really  quite  celebrated  and  are  as  apt 
to  be  sought  out  as  those  having  finer  sounding 
titles. 


MANSION  HOUSE,  OFFICIAL  RESIDENCE  OF  LONDON'S  LORD  MAYOR. 

THE  RICHEST  SQUARE. 

We  are  now  in  the  part  of  London  called  "the  city." 
More  business  is  transacted  in  this  square  than  in  any 
other  section  of  the  world.  Near  the  corner  of  King 
William  street  is  the  Mansion  House,  the  official 
residence  of  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London.  The  mayor 
is  a  great  personage  in  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen,  and 
receives  as  much  salary  as  our  president. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND. 


33 


Unlike  most  mayors  he  rules  over  but  one  square 
mile  of  this  immense  city.  But  this  one  is  the  richest 
mile  of  territory  in  all  the  wide  world.  It  contains 
the  Bank  of  England,  the  mint,  the  stock  and  produce 
exchange  and  London's  only  cathedral. 


BANK  OF  E^7GLAND,  LONDON. 

Suppose  we  visit  some  of  these  important  build- 
ings. The  Bank  of  England,  the  greatest  bank  in  the 
world,  we  find  to  be  almost  opposite  the  Mansion 
House.  It  is  amusing  to  learn  that  this  celebrated 
and  dignified  structure  is  on  Needle  and  Thread  street. 
The  bank  is  a  one  story  building,  covering  four  acres 
of  ground.  Its  walls  are  of  granite  and  are  very  thick. 
The  outer  walls  have  no  windows.  The  rooms  receive 
light  from  inner  courts  and  skylights. 


34  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 

Some  of  the  officers  of  the  bank  make  their  homes 
in  this  building.  We  are  told  that  it  takes  900  men 
to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  bank,  s  nd  a  great  many 
guards  beside.  An  immense  amount  of  money  is  kept 
in  the  vaults  and  it  is  said  that  the  business  done  here 
in  a  day  amounts  to  $10,000,000. 

THE  ROYAL  EXCHANGE. 

Across  from  the  Bank  is  the  Royal  Exchange. 
The  west  front  has  a  porch  which  is  considered  the 
finest  thing  ot  the  kind  in  England.  It  has  seventeen 
large  figures  in  the  pediment.  These  figures  repre- 
sent Commerce  or  Trade,  the  Lord  Mayor  and  mer- 
chants of  different  nationalities. 

Every  day  bankers  and  other  wealthy  men  come 
here  to  transact  business.  The  prices  fixed  by  these 
men  on  grains,  wool  and  cotton  are  quickly  sent  to 
every  part  of  the  world  and  affect  business  in  America 
and  many  other  parts  of  the  earth. 

In  one  part  of  the  building  are  Lloyd's  Subscription 
Rooms.  This  is  the  greatest  shipping  firm  in  the 
world.  Every  man  engaged  in  a  large  shipping  busi- 
ness sends  to  Lloyd's  for  shipping  news,  marine  in- 
surance and  other  shipping  business.  Boats  have  to 
be  insured  as  well  as  houses,  you  see.  A  register  is 
kept  here  of  all  the  ships.  This  register  tells  us  about 
the  age,  build  and  seaworthiness  of  the  ship.  You 
see  how  necessary  this  would  be  if  a  man  wished  to 
buy  or  sell  a  ship,  or  insure  it. 

In  front  of  the  Royal  Exchange  is  a  fine  equestrian 
statue  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  another  English 
hero.  In  what  way  is  an  equestrian  statue  different 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 


35 


from  other  statues?  Was  Lord  Nelson's  an  eques- 
trian statue?  Why  not?  Did  he  win  his  battles  on 
land  or  sea?  There  are  two  other  statues  near  the 
building,  one  of  George  Peabody,  an  American,  and 
the  other  of  Rowland  Hill.  The  monument  was 


BLACK  FRIAR'S  BRIDGE  AND  ST.  PAUL'S  CATHEDRAL,  LONDON. 

erected  to  Mr.  Hill  because  he  did  so  much  to  intro- 
duce cheap  postage.  But  why  should  a  statue  have 
been  erected  on  this  spot  in  memory  of  Mr.  Peabody? 
Can  any  one  tell?  Mr.  Peabody  was  the  first  American 
to  receive  the  freedom  of  London.  So  you  see  the 
English  people  have  especially  honored  him. 


36  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND. 

ST.  PAUL'S  CATHEDRAL. 

About  half  a  mile  west  of  the  Bank  is  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral.  A  long  way  off  we  can  see  its  lofty  dome, 
surmounted  by  a  golden  cross,  but  it  is  so  surrounded 
by  tall  buildings  that  a  view  of  the  whole  church  is 
impossible. 

All  around  the  church  is  a  street  called  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  but  the  neighboring  buildings  are  so  close 
as  to  spoil  the  effect  of  the  cathedral  when  standing 
near  it. 

We  pay  one  shilling  to  see  the  sights  at  St,  Paul's, 
and  for  two  hours  roam  about  the  place  studying  the 
clock,  the  library,  the  whispering  gallery  and  crypt. 
It  is  a  large  and  beautiful  building,  but  inside  the 
walls  look  bare.  It  has  a  great  bell  which  strikes  the 
hour,  but  is  never  rung  except  on  the  death  of  some 
member  of  the  royal  family,  the  Lord  Mayor  or  the 
Bishop  of  London.  There  are  many  statues  of  English 
heroes  in  the  church  and  the  tomb  of  two  of  England's 
greatest  men,  Wellington  and  Nelson.  In  the  crypt 
are  also  the  tombs  of  three  famous  English  painters, 
Turner,  Reynolds  and  Landseer. 

In  the  vault  of  the  church  is  the  tomb  of  the  man 
who  built  the  church.  His  name  was  Sir  Christopher 
Wren.  The  church  was  thirly-five  years  in  building 
and  was  finished  in  1710.  It  was  paid  for  chiefly  by  a 
tax  on  coal.  Sir  Christopher  built  fifty  churches  in 
London,  but  St.  Paul's  is  the  finest  of  them  all. 

Not  far  away  is  St.  Swithins  Church,  where  is  kept 
the  London  Stone.  This  stone  has  for  a  thousand 
years  been  used  to  mark  off  distances.  All  distances 
in  London  were  measured  from  this  stone.  If  a  man 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  37 

living  in  the  suburbs  of  London  tells   you  he  lives    fif- 
teen miles  from  the  city  he  means   fifteen   miles   from 

this  stone. 

THE  BRITISH  MUSEUM. 

Near  the  city  is  the  British  Museum,  which  contains 
a  larger  collection  of  books,  manuscripts,  coins,  curi- 
osities, medals  and  antiquities  than  any  other  museum 
in  the  world.  In  one  of  the  rooms  one  may  see  the  Elgin 
marbles,  brought  from  Athens,  Greece,  about  a  hun- 
dred years  ago.  They  consist  of  statues,  reliefs  and 
yards  of  a  frieze.  The  frieze  represents  in  low  relief  a 
procession  of  men,  women  and  horses,  chariots  and  an- 
imals for  sacrifice,  all  going  to  celebrate  the  festival 
of  Athena. 

These  marbles  are  exquisitely  beautiful  and  are  ad- 
mired by  every  one  who  comes  to  the  museum.  They 
are  called  the  Elgin  marbles  because  they  were  bought 
by  Lord  Elgin.  He  sold  them  to  the  English  govern- 
ment for  half  what  was  paid  for  them. 

The  Egyptian  room  contains  the  famous  Rosetta 
stone,  with  its  lettering  of  Greek  and  Egyptian  char- 
acters. It  was  this  stone  that  furnished  the  infor- 
mation that  enabled  scholars  to  read  the  language  of 
the  Egyptians.  Inscriptions  on  old  wooden  statues 
and  granite  columns  thousands  of  years  old,  and  the 
history  of  these  early  days  were  made  clear  and 
plain. 

The  streets  surrounding  the  museum  are  quiet  and 
afford  homes  or  lodging  places  to  many  students,  writ- 
ers and  scholars.  It  is  a  favorite  neighborhood  with 
them  because  of  the  assistance  the  museum  gives  them 
in  their  work  and  studies* 


38  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND. 

THE  DOCKS  AND  THAMES  RIVER. 

We  have  learned  that  London  is  the  first  city  in 
commerce  in  the  world,  and  have  not  far  to  look  for 
the  reasons  for  this.  One  reason  is  because  of  its  situ- 
ation. It  is  built  on  the  Thames  river  fifty  miles 
from  the  coast.  This  river  is  navigable  to  London  for 
ships  of  the  largest  size.  Then  too,  the  city  is  cen- 


PICADILLY. 


is  near 
canal 


trally  situated  with  regard  to  other  lands.     It 
to  the  continent  and  to  trade  through  the  Suez 
or  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

The  Thames  river  is  always  crowded  with  shipping 
and  both  shores  are  bordered  by  docks,  wharves  and 
huge  warehouses  for  all  sorts  of  merchandise  and 
vaults  for  wines. 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND.  39 

The  London  docks  cover  120  acres.  The  St.  Cather- 
ine docks  are  the  largest  of  the  city,  covering  24 
acres,  11  of  which  are  water.  We  can  visit  these 
docks  when  near  the  tower  of  London. 

One  sees  the  same  pictures  during  an  hour  at  the 
London  docks  as  at  the  Liverpool  docks.  So  we  decide  to 
take  a  steamer  for  a  ride  on  the  Thames.  It  will  give 
us  an  excellent  view  of  the  bridges,  the  fine  embank- 
ments, the  London  Tower  and  the  splendid  Houses  of 
Parliament. 

Of  all  the  famous  rivers  of  the  world,  the  Thames  is 
one  of  the  smallest  and  most  famous.  In  size  it  is  a 
mere  creek,  but  its  history  has  more  of  interest  to  the 
English  reader  or  traveler  than  any  other  stream. 

For  centuries  kings  and  queens  have  lived  beside  it, 
going  from  their  court  in  London  to  find  rest  or  recre- 
ation at  some  riverside  place. 

It  is  one  of  the  greatest  pleasure  resorts  in  the 
world.  Every  fine  day  in  summer  it  is  thronged  with 
holiday  makers  in  every  imaginable  kind  of  craft. 
There  are  row-boats,  house-boats,  punts,  steam 
launches  and  even  gondolas. 

The  river  is  spanned  by  many  bridges.  Some  of 
these  are  used  by  the  public  and  others  by  the  rail- 
roads. 

There  is  a  tunnel  under  the  river,  and  underground 
railways.  Not  far  from  the  docks,  up  the  river,  we 
come  upon  the  Tower,a  grim,  dismal  old  building  that 
was  at  one  time  England's  state  prison. 

Let  us  stop  and  take  a  look  at  the  Tower  bridge,  of 
which  we  have  read  in  our  guide  book.  It  is  said  that 
it  took  eight  years  to  build  this  bridge  and  that  it 


40  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 

cost  six  million  dollars  and  a  number  of  lives.  It  is 
different  from  other  bridges  we  have  seen.  It  has 
three  spans. 

The  roadway  in  the  central  span  shows  us  a  space 
200  feet  long  and  50  feet  wide.  Beneath  this  road- 
way is  a  span  30  feet  high,  under  which  small  boats 
can  pass. 

When  large  ships  come  up  the  river  traffic  must  stop 
for  a  time.  The  roadbed  parts  in  the  middle,  and 
each  half  rises  to  a  vertical  position,  to  allow  the  ship 
to  pass;  this  takes  but  a  minute.  The  foot  passen- 
gers do  not  have  to  wait.  They  enter  an  elevator  in 
the  bridge  tower  and  are  lifted  to  the  high  level  foot- 
way 112  feet  above.  We  should  like  to  visit  the  tower 
too,  but  this  will  take  a  long  time  and  must  be  post- 
poned until  another  day. 

Not  far  away  is  London  Bridge,  but  before  we  stop 
there  we  will  take  a  look  at  Billingsgate,  the  principal 
fish  market  in  London.  The  fish  are  brought  here  in 
boats  in  great  quantities,  and  sold  to  both  retail  and 
wholesale  fish  dealers.  The  busiest  hours  are  at  five 
and  six  in  the  morning. 

Beyond  the  fish  market  is  the  oldest  and  most 
famous  of  all  the  bridges  of  the  Thames — London 
Bridge.  The  first  one  was  built  hundreds  of  years  ago, 
but  that  is  not  the  one  we  see  to-day.  The  present 
bridge  is  a  magnificent  one,  900'  ft.  long  and  54  wide, 
built  of  granite.  This  bridge  is  said  to  have  cost  $10,- 
000,000.  It  has  lamp  posts  made  from  the  cannon 
captured  during  one  of  England's  wrars. 

Long  ago  the  heads  of  traitors  were  set  up  on  the 
iron  spikes  of  London  Bridge  to  terrify  evil-doers. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 


41 


42  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 

There  used  to  be  stores  on  this  bridge  too,  but  as  the 
city  grew,  more  space  was  needed  and  they  were  taken 
away.  To-day,  London  Bridge  is  the  most  crowded 
place  in  the  city.  It  is  said  that  30,000  vehicles  and 
200,000  people  cross  it  every  twenty-four  hours. 

The  embankment  above  London  Bridge  has  been 
made  a  beautiful  place.  The  river  is  edged  with  a 
granite  wall  eight  feet  thick  and  forty  feet  high  ex- 
tending from  Black  Friars  Bridge  to  Westminster 
Bridge.  A  wide  roadway  borders  the  river,  and  foot- 
ways, planted  with  trees.  This  embankment  is 
known  as  the  Victoria  Embankment. 

The  Westminster  bridge  wre  find  to  be  the  finest  of 
all  the  bridges  of  London.  It  is  eighty-five  feet  wide, 
is  built  of  iron  and  rests  on  stone  piers. 

Following  up  the  river  we  reach  the  suburbs  of 
London.  The  Thames  is  here  bordered  by  pleasant 
homes  with  green  lawns  sloping  down  to  the  water's 
edge.  There  are  many  skiffs  or  boats  on  the  river, 
where  boys  and  men  are  practicing  for  the  races  which 
are  held  every  year.  Picked  teams  from  all  the  princi- 
pal English  clubs  take  part  in  this  Royal  Regatta,  or 
rowing  carnival,  and  excited  crowds  gather  to  witness 
the  fun. 

Suppose  we  return  now  and  visit  the  Tower  of 
London. 

THE  TOWER  OF  LONDON. 

London  has  many  towers,  but  this  is  the  most 
noted  and  interesting  of  all.  It  is  in  East  London,  near 
St.  Catherines  Docks.  Once  a  fortress,  a  royal  resi- 
dence, a  court  of  justice  and  a  prison,  it  is  now  but  a 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND. 


43 


government  store-house.     The  building  is  very  old,  so 
old  that  no  one  knows  exactly  when  it  was  begun. 

The  buildings  known  as  the  Tower  are  surrounded 
by  a  bat t lenient ed  wall  and  deep  moat.  At  one  time 
this  moat  was  rilled  with  water  and  the  only  way  to 
reach  the  tower  was  by  means  of  a  drawbridge.  The 
high  walls  and  moat  were  for  defence,  in  case  of  attack 


TOWER  OP  LONDON. 


by  enemies.     When  the  bridge  was  drawn  up  the  at- 
tacking party  had  no  way  to  reach  the  gates. 

There  are  three  entrances,  the  Iron  Gate,  the  Water 
Gate,  the  Traitor's  Gate,  all  from  the  Thames.  Then 
there  is  the  Lion's  Gate,  the  ordinary  entrance  on  the 
west  side.  Traitor's  Gate  was  so  called  because  polit- 
ical prisoners  were  so  often  taken  to  the  Tower  in  this 
way.  Princes  and  nobles,  lords  and  ladies,  and  even 
queens  have  entered  the  gates,  and  many  of  them  never 


44  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

came  out  again.  If  they  did  they  thought  themselves 
very  lucky. 

We  will  not  go  in  that  way,  but  by  the  Lion's  Gate, 
on  the  west  side.  The  Tower  is  guarded  by  quaintly 
dressed  warders,  or,  as  some  people  call  them,  "beef- 
eaters." These  men  have  been  soldiers  and  are  now 
members  of  a  body  of  men  or  policemen  called  Yeo- 
men of  the  Guard.  One  of  the  guards  acts  as  our 
guide  through  the  tower. 

Let  us  enter  by  the  Lion's  Gate.  We  receive  tick- 
ets of  admission  and  cross  the  bridge  that  spans  the 
moat,  pass  through  the  Byward  Tower  and  so  reach 
the  inside  of  this  great  prison.  Inside  the  battlement 
wall  is  another  and  higher  wall,  and  between  the  two 
a  space,  or  court.  We  are  now  in  this  outer  court. 
Both  the  walls  are  strengthened  by  towers  and  in  the 
central  space,  or  inner  court;  rises  a  grand  tower. 

We  come  first  to  the  gateway  of  the  Bloody  Tower 
and  pass  through  it  to  the  great  inner  court.  It  was 
so  named  because  some  little  princes  were  murdered 
here  by  order  of  the  king.  There  are  thirteen  towers 
in  all,  each  having  a  historical  name.  Among  them 
are  the  White  Tower,  the  Bell  Tower,  the  Wakefield 
Tower,  Middle  Tower  and  Brick  Tower. 

In  these  prisons  and  gloomy  chambers  many  noble 
prisoners  have  been  imprisoned  for  years,  pined  away 
and  died.  The  walls  of  White  Tower  are  fifteen  feet 
thick.  Just  imagine  such  a  prison.  It  was  here  that 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  imprisoned  for  twelve  years. 
He  was  sentenced  to  death,  but  the  king  did  not  dare 
to  have  him  executed,  and  so  confined  him  here.  It  was 
in  this  tower  he  wrote  his  History  of  the  World. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND.  45 

William  Penn  was  also  imprisoned  in  this  tower  at 
one  time. 

On  Tower  Hill  outside  the  moat  stood  the  scaffold 
for  the  execution  of  prisoners.  Within  the  walls  is 
St.  Peter's  Chapel,  and  near  it  is  the  burying  ground 
where  the  noble  prisoners  were  buried. 

The  most  interesting  room  of  all  to  many  is  the 
upper  room  of  the  Record  Tower,  where  crown  jewels 
or  regalia  are  kept.  There  are  a  number  of  crowns, 
Queen  Victoria's  being  the  finest.  It  is  set  with 
almost  three  thousand  beautiful  diamonds,  besides 
rubies  and  sapphires.  The  crown  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales  was  of  gold,  and  without  jewels.  There  are 
many  other  beautiful  and  costly  things,  the  whole 
collection  being  valued  at  $15,000,000. 

The  largest  diamond  belonging  to  the  British  sov- 
ereign is  called  the  Kohinoor,  or  Mountain  of  Light. 
Its  value  is  nearly  half  a  million  dollars.  This  jewel 
is  kept  at  Windsor,  but  a  model  of  it  is  shown  here 
with  the  crown  jewels.  There  are  also  bracelets,  and 
swords,  and  crosses,  and  scepters,  and  royal  spurs,  the 
salt  cellar  of  state,  made  to  imitate  the  White  Tower. 
These  are  kept  in  cases  of  glass  and  iron  and  carefully 
guarded. 

There  are  two  armories,  Queen  Elizabeth's  Armory 
and  the  Horse  Armory.  In  the  former  are  swords, 
lances,  halberds,  pikes  and  other  ancient  arms,  as 
well  as  instruments  of  punishment.  In  the  armory 
are  the  figures  of  twenty-two  mounted  kings  and 
knights  in  full  armor,  showing  the  different  styles  of 
armor  worn  at  different  times. 

Some  of  the  instruments  of  torture  used  by  the 


46  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

English  people  of  past  centuries  are  to  be  seen  in  one 
of  these  towers,  and  fearful  looking  instruments  they 
were.  First  and  worst  of  these  was  the  executioner's 
axe,  with  which  so  many  noted  prisoners  were  be- 
headed. Its  first  victim  was  a  queen;  so  you  see  that 
members  of  the  royalty  were  quite  as  apt  to  suffer 
death  in  this  way  as  others. 

Sometimes  the  branding  iron  was  used  for  the  pur- 
pose of  burning  the  figure  of  a  gallows  upon  a  man's 
face.  There  is  also  a  revolving  iron  cage,  the  barrel 
for  the  punishment  of  bakers  who  defrauded  the  peo- 
ple by  giving  false  weight.  The  stocks  and  whipping 
post  were  also  used,  and  a  ducking  stool  for  scolding 
women. 

If  we  are  to  believe  the  stories  of  olden  times,  we 
must  believe  that  there  were  a  great  many  scolding 
wives  and  ill-tempered  women,  called  shrews,  among 
the  English.  This  ducking  stool  was  a  long  beam  of 
wood  balanced  on  a  pivot  over  a  river  or  pond.  It 
was  so  arranged  that  the  scold  could  be  dropped  into 
the  water  and  lifted  out  again  before  she  was  drowned. 
This  method  of  punishment  was  found  to  be  very  un- 
satisfactory, and  an  iron  bonnet  was  next  used.  This 
was  put  over  the  head  and  mouth  and  fastened  with 
a  padlock. 

The  stories  of  the  crimes  and  tragedies  of  this 
tower  would  fill  a  whole  book.  Many,  or  perhaps 
most  of  the  prisoners  confined  and  executed  here  were 
innocent  of  the  crimes  of  which  they  were  accused. 
No  one  was  safe  from  wrongful  imprisonment,  and 
perhaps  death.  The  dread  of  this  tower  inspired  a 
desire  on  the  part  of  many  to  find  a  refuge,  or  coun- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


47 


try  where  they  might  be  safe  from  injustice.  So  you 
see  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  this,  our  ancestors  might 
not  have  come  to  America.  We  may  be  indebted 
to  the  tower  more  than  we  imagine. 


WESTMINSTER  ABBEY. 

WESTMINSTER  ABBEY. 

The  most  interesting  building  in  London  to  many 
visitors  is  Westminster  Abbey.  England's  kings  and 
queens  for  eight  hundred  years  have  been  crowned 


4:8  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

and  buried  there.  It  was  first  designed  for  the  burial 
place  of  kings  and  queens  only,  but  after  a  time  Eng- 
land's great  and  good  men  were  honored  by  having 
their  bodies  laid  to  rest  beside  those  of  royal  blood. 
Today  this  building  contains  the  graves  of  more 
famous  men  and  women  than  any  other  in  the  whole 
world. 

The  building  is  celebrated  for  its  beauty  as  well  as 
its  age,  and  to  get  the  best  view  one  should  approach 
it  from  the  front.  The  walls  are  dingy  and  grimy, 
for  the  atmosphere  is  laden  with  dust  and  smoke  of 
many  factory  chimneys. 

Inside  the  building  all  is  hushed  and  still.  A  few 
visitors  like  ourselves  are  wandering  about,  or  sitting 
in  the  pews  reading  books.  At  first  we  think  they  are 
prayer  books  but  a  closer  view  reveals  guide  books, 
similar  to  our  own.  There  is  no  talking  or  noise  of 
any  kind,  tho  outside  the  thick  walls  the  din  of  the 
streets  is  deafening. 

Are  we  disappointed  at  first?  Perhaps,  a  little. 
We  have  expected  so  much.  The  walls  and  floors  are 
dark  and  worn,  but  after  a  time  the  beauty  and  mag- 
nificence of  the  place  impress  us,  as  they  have  all 
others.  The  vaulted  roof,  pointed  arches,  clustered 
pillars  and  carved  stalls  first  attract  our  attention,  and 
we  wander  about  for  a  long  time  fascinated  by  the 
place. 

We  visit  first  the  tomb  of  Edward  the  Confessor, 
who  founded  the  Abbey.  It  is  one  of  the  oldest  tombs 
here.  His  shrine  is  a  most  beautiful  one. 

In  the  chapel  behind  the  altar  where  Edward  is 
buried  stands  the  old  English  Coronation  Chair. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  49 

Seated  in  this  chair  all  the  sovereigns  of  England  since 
Edward's  day  have  been  crowned.  In  the  seat  of 
the  chair  is  the  famous  Scone  Stone  on  which  the 
Scottish  kings  used  to  be  crowned.  The  Scots  be- 
lieved it  to  be  the  stone  on  which  Jacob  rested  his 
head  in  the  desert.  It  was  a  great  blow  to  the  Scot- 
tish people  when  this  stone  was  taken  away  from  them 
by  the  English  king. 

The  Jerusalem  Chambers  are  interesting  to  most 
people.  The  tapestries  of  the  walls  represent  scenes 
from  Jerusalem  and  the  cedar  wainscot  came  from 
the  Holy  Land.  It  is  noted  as  the  place  where  the 
common  version  of  the  Bible  was  made.  It  is  also 
the  room  where  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  minis- 
ters has  always  met.  It  is  these  men  who  have  given 
us  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Longer  and  Shorter 
Catechisms. 

The  most  beautiful  part  of  the  Abbey  is  Henry  VIFs 
chapel.  It  is  separated  from  the  rest  by  a  flight  of 
stairs  and  brass  gates.  The  walls  are  covered  with 
tracery  and  contain  the  statues  of  many  saints  and 
martyrs.  The  tomb  of  Henry  VII  is  of  black  marble, 
elaborately  carved,  and  effigies  of  the  king  and  queen 
in  gilt  bronze,  recline  upon  the  tomb. 

Two  other  most  interesting  tombs  in  this  chapel 
are  those  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  lovely  but  un- 
lucky sister  Mary  Stuart,  Queen  of  the  Scots.  Their 
tombs  are  much  alike. 

There  are  many  statues  in  different  parts  of  the 
building.  One  could  spend  hours  in  wandering  about 
looking  at  the  busts,  figures  and  monuments  of  Eng- 
land's famous  men,  and  reading  their  epitaphs  .Some 


50  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

are  erected  to  great  statesmen,  others  to  naval  com- 
manders, to  soldiers  and  to  the  former  deans  of  West- 
minster. 

Our  own  war  with  England  is  brought  to  mind  by 
the  sight  of  the  monument  to  Major  Andre.  You  re- 
member, do  you  not,  that  he  was  hung  as  a  spy  in 
America?  But  he  was  a  brave  soldier  and  after  the 
Revolution  his  body  was  sent  back  to  England  with 
every  mark  of  respect  and  consideration.  It  was  laid 
here  in  the  Abbey  and  this  fine  monument  erected  to 
mark  the  spot. 

Britannia  is  represented  as  mourning  over  his  early 
death.  The  bas-relief  on  one  side  of  the  tomb  repre- 
sents a  British  officer  carrying  a  flag  of  truce  and  a 
letter  to  the  tent  of  Washington  with  the  request  of 
Andre  that  as  a  soldier  he  might  be  shot,  and  not  hung. 
The  request  was  not  granted,  but  the  sculptor  has 
pictured  the  death  scene  as  Andre  wished  it. 

General  Burgoyne,  whose  surrender  at  Saratoga  lost 
America  to  England,  has  no  monument.  He  was  not 
buried  in  the  Abbey,  but  in  the  North  cloister. 

In  one  place  we  notice  a  slab  which  records  the  fact 
that  the  grave  beneath  was  the  resting  place  for  a 
time  of  the  body  of  George  Peabody.  On  the  slab  are 
also  carved  the  words  of  his  early  prayer  that  if  God 
prospered  him  he  would  render  some  memorial  service 
to  his  fellow-men.  Do  you  know  how  he  kept  his 
word? 

POETS'  CORNER  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY. 

One  chapel  in  the  Abbey  is  called  Poets'  Corner. 
In  it  are  buried  many  of  England's  great  warriors,  while 
others  have  monuments,  busts  or  tablets,  Dickens 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  51 

and  Thackeray  are  both  buried  here.  There  are  busts 
of  Shakespeare  and  Milton  and  many  other  poets,  but 
Longfellow  is  the  only  foreigner  honored  by  having 
his  bust  placed  in  the  Abbey. 

A  stained-glass  window  has  been  placed  here  in 
memory  of   Lowell.     Other   windows  have  recently 


POETS'  CORNER,  WESTMINSTER  ABBEY. 

been  given  to  the  Abbey  in  honor  of  the  poet  Cowper, 
and  George  Herbert,  by  a  wealthy  American. 

Near  by  the  cathedral  is  the  Westminster  School 
for  the  choirboys,  for  both  St.  Paul's  and  Westminster 
have  boy  choirs.  These  boys  are  chosen  from  hun- 
dreds of  applicants,  and  must  be  between  the  ages  of 
eight  and  ten.  They  are  required  to  remain  until  they 
have  served  their  full  term,  and  while  members  of  the 


52  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

choir  they  are  boarded  and  receive  an  excellent  high- 
school  education.  On  one  day  of  each  week  they  are 
allowed  to  go  to  their  own  playground  in  the  country 
and  have  their  holidays  at  Christmas,  Easter  and  mid- 
summer. In  some  of  the  boy  choirs,  the  best  singers 
receive  a  salary. 

If  we  were  to  come  to  the  Abbey  to  hear  them  sing, 
Sunday  afternoon,  we  would  feel  ourselves  well  paid 
for  the  trouble.  We  would  find  the  church  crowded 
with  eager  listeners,  two  or  three  thousand,  or  even 
more.  Many  are  glad  to  stand  through  a  long  service 
for  the  sake  of  the  eloquent  sermon  and  the  beautiful 
music  one  is  sure  to  hear. 

WESTMINSTER  PALACE. 

The  building  next  to  the  Abbey  is  Westminster 
Hall,  which  forms  the  grand  entrance  to  the  new  Par- 
liament Buildings.  This  Hall  is  very  old  and  has  an 
interesting  history.  Kings  have  been  crowned  in  it 
and  grand  banquets  given.  It  has  been  the  scene  of 
many  famous  trials  too. 

The  hall  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world,  being 
300  feet  long  and  70  wide.  The  ceiling  is  of  wood  and 
finely  carved.  There  is  also  a  St.  Stephen's  Hall,  which 
contains  statues  of  celebrated  English  statesmen,  and 
a  Central  Hall  which  separates  the  House  of  Commons 
from  the  House  of  Peers. 

The  English  laws  are  made  by  Parliament  which 
consists  of  two  legislative  bodies,  the  House  of  Lords 
and  the  House  of  Commons.  The  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons  are  elected  by  the  people.  West- 
minster Palace  contains  rooms  for  the  assemblage  of 
these  bodies  of  men. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


53 


54  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

The  Houses  of  Parliament  are  modern  buildings. 
They  cover  eight  acres,  contain  eleven  hundred  rooms, 
one  hundred  staircases  and  eleven  courts.  The  buildings 
are  of  stone  and  decorated  with  five  hundred  statues. 

The  main  building  has  three  towers.  At  the  north 
end,  next  to  Westminster  Bridge,  is  the  clock  tower.  It 
is  318  feet  high  and  contains  a  monster  clock.  This 
clock  has  four  dials,  and  each  of  these  dials  measures 
twenty-three  feet  across.  Another  remarkable  thing 
about  this  clock  is  that  half  a  day  is  required  to  wind 
it  up. 

The  central  tower  is  smaller  and  lower  than  the 
clock  tower.  At  the  other  end  of  the  building  is  the 
beautiful  tower  called  Victoria  Tower.  It  is  340  feet 
high  arid  contains  the  entrance  through  which  the 
queen  passed  when  she  visited  Parliament. 

Entering  the  House  of  Commons,  we  find  it  smaller 
than  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington. 
There  is  a  reason  for  this.  It  was  thought  best  to 
make  it  small  in  order  that  all  might  hear  distinctly. 
The  room  looks  much  like  the  interior  of  an  old  church. 

The  ceilings,  walls  and  furniture  are  of  dark  carved 
wood.  The  windows  are  of  stained  glass  and  the  room 
is  but  dimly  lighted.  Galleries  run  around  the  four 
sides  of  the  room.  One  is  for  newspaper  reporters, 
another  is  for  gentlemen  visitors.  There  is  another 
gallery  higher  up  for  ladies.  The  hall  has  seats,  but 
no  desks. 

The  House  of  Peers  occupies  the  southern  half  of 
the  new  part  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament.  The  room 
is  handsomely  finished  in  oak,  leather  and  gold.  The 
Queen's  throne  is  in  this  room,  and  during  her  reign 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


55 


56 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


she  came  here  annually  to  open  Parliament  and  make 
her  speech.  The  chair  of  state  resembles  the  " corona- 
tion chair."  It  is  ornamented  with  the  national  flow- 
ers of  England,  Ireland  and  Scotland — the  rose,  sham- 
rock and  thistle. 

In  the  central  part  are  seats  for  the  Lords  or  Peers. 
When  the  Queen  opened  Parliament   the  members  of 


PALL  MALL,  LONDON. 

the  House  of  Commons  as  well  as  the  Peers  assembled 
in  this  room.  We  should  like  to  have  been  here  dur- 
ing Gladstone's  life  and  have  heard  one  of  his  wonder- 
ful speeches.  He  was  England's  prime  minister,  and 
in  America  as  well  as  in  England  we  hear  him  spoken 
of  as  the  "Grand  Old  Man." 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  5? 

BUCKINGHAM  PALACE. 

The  queen  when  in  London  lived  at  Buckingham 
Palace  on  the  Mall,  a  wide,  pleasant  street,  leading 
from  the  government  offices  and  fashionable  clubs. 


ALEXANDRA,  QUEEN  OF  ENGLAND. 


58  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

This  palace  was  one  of  the  early  homes  of  Queen   Vic- 
toria, and  here  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  born. 

On  the  first  floor  are  the  Throne  Room,  the  Grand 
Saloon,  the  Green  Drawing-Room,  the  Ball  Room, 
Picture  Gallery  and  many  other  rooms.  The 
Queen's  Drawing  Rooms  wrere  held  in  this  building. 
These  affairs  were  receptions.  On  drawing-room  days 
this  street  was  thronged  with  the  carriages  of  the 
people  who  came  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  queen 
and  other  members  of  the  royal  family  who  re- 
ceived with  her.  Young  ladies  belonging  to  the 
aristocratic  families  were  not  considered  as  having 
entered  society  until  they  were  presented  to  the 
queen  or  "at  court. " 

King  Edward  now  reigns  in  Queen  Victoria's  place, 
and  his  wife,  Queen  Alexandra,  will  hold  court  at  the 
palace. 

Queen  Victoria  spent  part  of  the  season  at  Windsor 
Castle,  at  the  little  town   of  Windsor,    twenty   miles 
from  London.     We  shall  take  an  excursion  to  Windsor 
Palace  another  day. 

A  WALK  IN  LONDON. 

London  is  so  crowded  that  there  does  not  appear  to 
be  room  for  the  people.  There  are  so  many  that  they 
are  obliged  to  push  each  other  out  of  the  way  in  order 
to  get  along  at  all,  in  the  busy  streets. 

All  the  men  in  the  streets  are  dressed  in  black. 
There  is  not  a  straw  hat  to  be  seen  or  a  light  felt  one, 
altho  it  is  quite  warm. 

There  is  a  very  good  reason  for  this,  however,  and 
we  find  it  out  before  we  have  been  in  London  many 


A  LITLLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


59 


days.  The  air  is  full  of  particles  of  soot,  and  our  faces, 
light  traveling  suits  and  hats  are  soon  changed  in 
color.  We  are  obliged  to  wash  our  face  and  hands 

every  three  or 
four  hours  to 
prevent  our- 
selves becoming 
as  black  as  the 
London  chim- 
ney sweeps. 

It  is  the  smoke 
and  soot  that 
makes  the 
houses  so  black 
and  dingy  look- 
ing. It  does  not 
seem  to  affect 
the  complexions 
of  the  people, 
however.  They 
have  fine,  fair, 
ruddy  faces  and 
look  healthy  and 
vigorous.  The 

e  866111 


LONDON  CHIMNEY  SWEEP. 

er  and  heavier  than  the  people  of  any  other  coun- 
try we  have  visited.  Their  faces  have  more  color,  the 
result  of  their  outdoor  life. 

They  are  both  courteous  and  kind  too,  and  answer 
pleasantly  and  cheerfully  our  many  questions  about 
London.  They  are  proud  of  their  city  and  quite  will- 
ing to  point  out  the  historic  land-marks  of  the  place. 


60  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

Sunday  is  a  delightful  time  for  a  ramble  about  the 
old  streets  and  ancient  buildings,  interesting  to  all  the 
world  because  of  their  histories.  At  this  time  one  can 
walk  through  the  streets  without  being  crowded  or 
jostled  or  run  over.  It  is  a  quiet  day  and  few  people 
or  vehicles  are  in  the  streets.  The  great  chimneys 
have  ceased  smoking,  and  the  air  is  free  from  soot. 
The  sky  is  blue  and  clear  and  without  the  dust  and 
smoke  of  other  days. 

We  find  many  historic  places  connected  with  the 
lives  of  famous  Americans.  In  the  church  of  St.  Sav- 
ior, the  next  finest  Gothic  church  in  London,  John 
Harvard  was  christened.  Why  are  we  interested  in 
him?  Because  he  founded  our  oldest  university. 

At  Bears  Head  Tavern,  Irving  spent  some  time. 
What  fascinating  pictures  of  English  life  he  found 
here  and  gave  to  us  in  his  "Sketch  Book." 

Every  Christmas  we  read  it  with  new  delight.  If 
only  we  might  see  inside  some  of  these  happy  homes 
that  look  so  dingy  and  uninteresting  from  the  outside, 
we,  too,  might  carry  with  us  pleasant  memories  of  the 
home  life  of  these  people. 

We  have  heard  it  said  that  if  one  were  to  follow 
Dickens  as  he  shows  us  London  in  his  books,  he 
would  see  almost  the  whole  of  the  city.  We  cannot 
do  that,  for  many  of  the  buildings  he  has  mentioned 
have  been  torn  down  or  removed. 

But  we  can  find  the  "  Old  Curiosity  Shop,"  which 
is  still  used  as  a  place  of  business.  We  almost  imag- 
ine that  we  see  old  Scrooge  coming  out  of  the  build- 
ing, but  poor  old  Scrooge  is  dead.  You  know  the 
story,  do  you  not? 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


61 


"OLD  CURIOSITY  SHOP." 

CHARLES  DICKENS. 

Charles  Dickens  was  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
story  tellers,  and  many  people  think  that  he  did  more 
to  better  the  condition  of  the  poor  people  of  England 
and  to  bring  wrongs  to  light  than  all  the  statesmen 
Great  Britain  ever  sent  to  Parliament.  He  was  a 
great  teacher,  for  he  taught  the  whole  world  lessons 
of  the  value  of  kindness,  of  generosity  and  of  unself- 
ishness. 

Would  you  like  to  know  how  he  was  able  to  do 
this?  It  was  not  because  he  was  favored  in  any  way 
by  good  luck.  He  was  a  sickly  little  fellow,  and  did 
not  go  to  school  or  mingle  with  the  other  boys  much 


62  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO.  ENGLAND. 

in  their  lively  games.  His  mother  taught  him  how  to 
read,  and  amused  him  during  his  years  of  ill-health 
by  telling  him  stories. 

When  Charles  Dickens  was  about  nine  years  old, 
his  father  lost  his  money  and  was  thrown  into  prison 
because  he  could  not  pay  his  debts.  In  those  days  it 
was  a  crime  for  a  man  not  to  pay  his  debts,  and  if  he 
failed  to  do  so,  he  was  promptly  put  into  a  debtors' 
prison. 

These  were  troubled  days  for  the  family,  and 
Charles  was  obliged  to  go  to  work  in  a  London  black- 
ing manufactory  to  earn  a  little  money.  He  hated 
this  work,  for  while  in  the  factory  he  was  thrown  with 
low,  rough,  dishonest  companions,  who  bullied  and 
tormented  him.  He  had  hoped  to  be  able  to  become 
famous  as  a  scholar,  yet  here  were  all  his  plans 
spoiled. 

There  were  many  other  children  around  him,  how- 
ever, who  were  as  unfortunate  and  miserable  as  he, 
and  his  sympathy  for  these  other  lonely,  oppressed 
children  was  so  great  that  he  tried  to  be  brave  in 
order  to  help  them.  He  sang  songs  and  told  funny 
stories,  which  he  acted  out  in  a  ridiculous  way,  in 
order  to  amuse  and  cheer  up  his  friends. 

He  spent  his  evenings  and  every  spare  minute  he 
could  find  in  the  reading  room  of  the  British  Museum, 
which  we  have  lately  visited.  After  a  time  the  father  had 
money  left  to  him,  and  then  Charles  was  able  to  go  to 
school.  He  grew  well  and  strong,  and  was  at  last 
able  to  have  the  books  he  loved  so  much. 

After  a  time  he  entered  a  lawyer's  office  and 
studied  shorthand.  He  worked  so  faithfully  at  this 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  63 

that  he  soon  became  very  proficient,  and  was  offered  a 
position  as  reporter  on  a  newspaper.  When  engaged 
in  this  work  he  met  all  classes  of  people  and  had  good 
opportunities  to  study  the  lives  of  the  poor  people 
about  him. 

When  about  twenty-one,  he  wrote  his  first  story 
and  sent  it  to  a  magazine.  When  it  was  printed  he 
was  delighted  beyond  measure,  and  immediately 
wrote  others.  They  were  not  at  all  like  the  stories 
published  in  the  books  and  magazines  at  that  time, 
and  became  popular  almost  at  once. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  had  published  two 
volumes  of  his  sketches,  and  had  begun  the  book 
which  made  him  famous.  This  book  was  "  Pickwick 
Papers. "  Near  our  hotel  is  the  inn  where  Mr.  Pick- 
wick had  his  quarrel  with  the  cabman, 

In  Dickens'  next  book  he  tells  the  story  of  a  poor 
orphan,  Oliver  Twist,  who  like  himself  had  been 
thrown  among  scenes  of  misery  and  want.  He  re- 
membered his  factory  days,  and  the  children  who 
were  cruelly  treated.  He  had  wished  to  do  something 
to  relieve  the  children  who  were  ill-treated,  and  now 
he  saw  an  opportunity  to  do  so. 

So  he  wrote  this  story  and  others  to  attract  atten- 
tion to  these  evils,  which  he  wished  people  to  see, 
to  know  and  correct. 

Then  he  wrote  Nicholas  Nickleby,  and  what  an  up- 
roar it  did  bring  about !  The  Squeers  of  this  story  was 
so  very  much  like  several  English  schoolmasters  that 
they  thought  he  had  written  the  story  about  them,  and 
sued  him  for  slander.  Do  you  know  what  that  means? 

After  this  came  the  sad  story  of  "Little  Nell,"  and 


64 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


the  "Old  Curiosity  Shop/'  and  so  many  others  I  can 
not  name  them  here.     In  the  book  which  is  most  POP- 


CHARLES  DICKENS. 


ular  of  all,  "David  Copperfield,"  we  find  the  story  of 
his  own  life.     In  "Little  Dorrit"  he  tells  of  the  debt- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  65 

ors'  prison.  This  too  is  a  picture  from  the  memory  of 
Dickens'  own  childhood,  as  he  used  to  visit  his  father 
when  confined  there. 

With  a  master  hand  he  has  painted  the  home  lift 
of  the  English  people, ,  whether  humble  or  great. 
Among  the  best  of  these  are  his  Christmas  stories. 
Dickens  loved  the  ancient  customs  and  especially  the 
Christmas  festival.  No  one  who  has  ever  read  his 
Christmas  Carol  will  ever  forget  Tiny  Tim,  and  old 
Ebenezer  Scrooge.  It  leaves  one  wishing  to  live  and 
do  more  for  others.  It  is  full  of  good  will  and  sympa- 
thy for  the  poor,  as  Dickens  himself  was. 

He  never  forgot  his  own  sad  life,  and  tried  to  keep 
sorrow  from  other  little  ones.  When  Dickens  died  his 
body  was  laid  to  rest  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Many 
school  children  came,  each  bearing  a  flower,  until  the 
grave  was  nearly  filled  with  blossoms. 

THE  EAST  END. 

Now  let  us  visit  the  East  End,  where  live  so  many 
of  the  poor  and  wretched  whose  sad  lives  Dickens  has 
pictured  for  us  and  whose  wrongs  he  helped  to  right. 

In  this  part  of  London  we  find  the  streets  narrow, 
dark  and  dirty.  The  buildings  are  so  high  that  the 
sunshine  rarely  finds  its  way  into  these  homes,  and  the 
air  is  foul  with  bad  odors  arising  from  the  unclean  sur- 
roundings. The  wretched  tenement  houses  that  hold 
London's  poor  are  here  crowded  together.  What  a 
dismal  picture  they  make! 

These  houses  are  divided  up  into  small  rooms,  into 
which  whole  families  are  often  crowded.  In  this  one 
room  they  must  live,  eat  and  sleep. 


66  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

There  are  no  yards  or  trees  or  playgrounds  for  the 
children.  They  must  play  in  the  streets  or  the  gut- 
ters. There  are  no  wide  pleasant  porches  where  the 
tired  workmen  and  their  families  may  gather  in  the 
evening.  On  the  doorsteps  of  these  cheerless  places 
lounge  many  idle,  half-drunken  men  and  women. 

Whitechapel  is  the  home  of  the  evil-doer,  the  thief 
and  outcast,  as  well  as  the  poor,  and  to  walk  in  some 
streets  in  this  part  of  London  even  by  day  is  to  place 
one's  life  in  danger.  Drink  has  brought  many  to  this 
neighborhood,  who,  in  days  of  prosperity,  lived  in  the 
West  End. 

Dirty,  ragged  children  swarm  about  some  of  the  open 
windows.  At  others  pale,  haggard  women  sit  sewing. 
They  are  making  garments  for  the  shops  or  factories  and 
are  obliged  to  toil  early  and  late  in  order  to  earn  enough 
to  buy  the  poorest  kind  of  food.  Day  after  day, 
month  after  month,  they  spend  in  this  way.  without  a 
breath  of  fresh,  pure  air,  or  a  glimpse  of  the  beautiful 
country  just  a  few  miles  beyond. 

Do  you  wonder  that  the  people  who  live  here  com- 
mit crimes?  Do  you  think  that  it  would  be  easy  to  be 
good,  living  in  such  a  place?  No  wonder  that  Dick- 
ens' heart  ached  for  them. 

We  are  glad,  very  glad,  to  get  away  from  all  this 
misery  back  to  a  more  pleasant  part  of  London.  If  we 
turn  our  steps  to  the  part  of  the  city  south  of  the  river 
we  shall  find  factories  and  residences.  North  of  the  river 
and  city  proper  are  the  districts  where  the  middle 
class  live — the  tradesmen  and  prosperous  working 
people. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  West  End.     It  is  as  differ- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  67 

ent  from  the  East  End  as  day  is  different  from  night. 
There  are  no  smoky  factories  there.  The  air  is  fresh 
and  free  from  smoke,  the  streets  wide,  clean  and  at- 
tractive. There  are  parks  too,  where  the  people  may 
sit,  walk,  ride  or  drive. 

The  houses  that  line  the  streets  are  palaces  or 
stately  dwellings  of  brick  and  stone,  and  in  them  live 
London's  lords  and  ladies,  and  the  wealthy  and  fortu- 
nate. 

LONDON  PARKS. 

No  city  in  the  world  has  so  many  fine  parks,  pleas- 
ure grounds  and  *' green'7  squares  as  London.  A  walk 
through  these  shows  the  love  that  the  English  people 
have  for  trees  and  flowers  and  green  things  growing. 
Some  of  the  parks  belong  to  the  Crown,  and  are  con- 
trolled by  His  Majesty's  commissioner  and  cared  for 
by  men  who  wear  the  royal  livery.  Among  these  are 
Hyde  Park,  Kensington  Gardens,  Regent's  Park, 
Greenwich  Park,  Kew  Gardens. 

Others  belong  to  the  people,  or  at  least  such  as  are 
fortunate  enough  to  live  near  them.  Parks  are  in- 
tended for  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich,  but  many  of 
them  seldom  see  or  use  them.  The  most  of  the  parks 
are  in  the  West  End  and  are  too  far  removed  from 
the  homes  of  the  poor.  The  East  End  has  one 
tiny  ^ark  of  three  acres  that  was  formerly  a  church 
yard.  It  has  been  made  attractive  with  fountains, 
ferneries  and  flowers,  and  a  delightful  resting  place  for 
many  who  could  never  go  to  the  other  parks.  Victo- 
ria Park  is  also  a  heaven  of  beauty  to  tens  of  thousands 
of  children  and  toiling  fathers  and  mothers. 


68  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND, 

St.  James  and  Green  Parks  are  in  the  midst  of  the 
city,  near  the  West  End.  Near  St.  James  Park  are 
St.  James  Street  and  Piccadilly — famous  for  their  club 
houses.  These  are  the  favorite  resorts  for  men  of 
wealth  and  fashion.  Much  of  their  time  is  spent  there, 
and  some  of  them  know  no  other,  homes. 

There  are  many  other  clubs  in  various  parts  of  Lon- 
don, where  workmen  may  congregate  and  spend  their 
evenings.  Indeed  it  is  said  that  in  no  other  city  in  the 
world  will  one  find  so  many. 

Regent's  Park  is  a  magnificent  place  for  games  of 
all  kinds.  On  Sunday  the  people  gather  there  in  large 
numbers  for  divine  worship,  and  these  open  air  ser- 
vices and  the  music  are  very  attractive. 

This  park  contains  the  Zoological  Gardens,  and  that 
accounts  perhaps  for  the  troops  of  children  with  their 
nurses  or  teachers  that  we  see  there.  The  famous 
"Jumbo,"  that  Mr.  Barnum  brought  to  this  country, 
lived  in  this  park  before  it  was  brought  to  America. 

Many  tourists  come  to  the  celebrated  Kew  Gardens 
for  their  botanical  collections.  Here  are  mammoth 
green  houses  and  gardens,  green  lawns  and  forests.  It 
makes  one  think  of  fairyland,  and  is  a  quiet,  peaceful 
spot  in  which  to  rest  or  study. 

Hyde  Park  and  Kensington  Gardens  together  make 
the  largest  park  in  London.  It  is  frequented  by  the 
wealthy  and  aristocratic  people  of  the  city.  This  park 
contains  an  ornamental  lake  called  the  Serpentine,  and  a 
wide  street  called  Rot  ton  Row.  This  road  is  used  only 
by  those  on  horseback,  and  from  twelve  to  two  o'clock 
one  may  see  fashionable  ladies  and  gentlemen  on  high- 
bred, spirited  horses,  horsemen  in  jockey  costume,  and 
children  on  Shetland  ponies,  pacing  up  and  down. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


69 


70  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

The  Row  is  bordered  on  each  side  by  a  walk  and 
this  is  thronged  by  people  who  come  to  watch  the 
riders.  Under  the  trees  are  chairs  which  one  may  rent 
for  a  penny  apiece.  We  are  glad  to  rest  awhile  in 
the  shade,  and  watch  the  crowd  of  riders  and  walkers. 
Between  the  hours  of  four  and  six  the  crowd  drifts  to 
another  part  of  the  park,  where  the  fashionable  people 
come  later  to  drive.  The  wide,  shady  avenues  are 
then  filled  with  carriages  drawn  by  splendid  horses. 
The  ladies  in  these  carriages  are  elegantly  dressed  and 
many  beautiful  faces  are  seen  among  them. 

Kensington  Gardens  are  separated  from  the  Park 
by  the  Serpentine  Lake.  It  is  a  lovely  place,  far  more 
beautiful  than  the  park,  and  not  so  noisy  and  crowded. 
On  the  western  side  is  Kensington  palace,  the  place 
where  Queen  Victoria  was  born,  and  lived  until  a  young 
woman. 

South  of  the  palace  we  find  Albert  Memorial,  erected 
in  memory  of  the  Queen's  husband,  Prince  Albert.  This 
is  one  of  the  finest  monuments  that  has  ever  been 
erected,  and  it  ought  to  be,  for  it  cost  $600,000.  Near 
it  is  Albert  Hall,  which  is  also  a  memorial  to  Prince 
Albert.  This  great  amphitheater  seats  nearly  10,000, 
and  contains  one  of  the  largest  organs  in  the  world. 

Not  far  away  is  the  Kensington  museum,  where  one 
might  remain  for  hours.  There  are  many  fine  paint- 
ings, and  among  those  we  note  are  several  by  Land- 
seer,  whose  tomb  we  saw  in  St,  Paul's  Cathedral. 
Would  yon  like  to  know  something  of  this  London 
boy,  who  loved  animals  and  painted  dogs  as  no  other 
artist  has  done? 

Edwin  Landseer  drew  pictures  as  soon  as  he  was  able 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  71 

to  walk,  and  at  five  years  of  age  could  sketch  a  dog  as 
well  as  most  grown-up  people.  He  liked  better  than 
anything  else  to  watch  the  dogs  at  play  with  the  chil- 
dren. One*  morning  when  strolling  about  he  saw  a 


LANDSEER  AND  HIS  DOGS. 

beautiful  St.  Bernard  dog.    He  wished  to  sketch  the 
splendid  fellow,  so  he  followed  him  home.    The  sketch 


72  A    LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND. 

made  of  this  dog  is  said  to  be  the  finest  representa- 
tion of  a  dog  ever  made. 

His  father  often  took  him  to  the  Zoological  Gardens 
to  see  the  animals,  and  while  there  he  drew  horses, 
donkeys,  sheep,  lions  and  tigers.  He  drew  pictures  of 
pointers,  mastiffs,  spaniels  and  bull- dogs,  and  gave  to 
each  the  right  expression.  He  found  by  studying, 
working  and  playing  with  them  that  dogs  of  one 
breed  may  be  very  different  in  temper  and  dis- 
position. Poor  people  who  owned  dogs  or  other  pets 
that  they  prized  very  highly  were  interested  in  these 
animal  pictures.  They  could  not  afford  to  buy  a 
painting  but  they  could  spare  a  few  shillings  for  an 
engraving.  So  Edwin  Landseer's  father  began  to  en- 
grave the  pictures  of  his  son's  dogs.  So  many  people 
bought  them  that  Edwin's  father  and  brothers  soon 
devoted  all  their  time  to  making  these  engravings. 

By  and  by  rich  people  came  and  wanted  Edwin  to 
paint  portraits  of  their  dogs,  so  he  opened  a  studio, 
where  the  principal  sitters  were  dogs.  He  loved  horses 
as  well  as  dogs  but  had  not  had  so  good  an  opportu- 
nity to  study  them.  He  now  began  to  paint  them 
too.  Rich  people  liked  to  have  their  portraits  with  a 
favorite  dog  or  horse.  Queen  Victoria  herself  came  to 
his  studio  to  have  him  paint  her  picture  on  horseback, 
and  a  portrait  of  her  husband,  Prince  Albert,  as  well. 

He  was  the  first  artist  to  be  received  by  the  Queen 
as  a  friend,  and  was  invited  to  her  palace  many  times. 

WINDSOR   CASTLE. 

There  is  one  excursion  that  few  London  visitors 
fail  to  make — that  is  to  Windsor,  the  chosen  resi- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  73 

dence  of  English  kings  for  many  centuries.  It  was 
the  royal  home  of  Queen  Victoria  for  three  score  years, 
and  is  now  the  residence  of  King  Edward  VII. 
Windsor  Castle  is  situated  in  the  little  town  of  Wind- 
sor, about  twenty-one  miles  from  London. 

The  train  will  take  us  to  Windsor  station  in  less 
than  a  half  hour.  The  Castle  is  the  most  interesting 
and  imposing  of  all  the  great  houses  that  overlook  the 
Thames.  It  is  not  a  beautiful  building,  but  its  fine 
situation,  its  huge,  picturesque,  ivy-covered  walls  and 
towers  make  it  a  magnificent  one. 

The  Castle  is  more  than  eight  centuries  old,  and  has 
always  belonged  to  the  crown,  but  there  have  been 
times  when  it  was  not  used  as  a  royal  residence.  It  was 
begun  by  King  William,  and  at  that  time  was  intended 
as  a  fortress.  But  each  succeeding  sovereign  has 
added  to  it  until  it  has  become  the  most  important 
royal  state  palace  of  England.  Queen  Victoria  lived 
here  during  the  winter  and  at  times  while  Parliament 
was  in  session,  but  the  autumn  and  summer  were 
spent  elsewhere. 

The  grounds  around  the  castle  make  a  beautiful 
park  of  over  1,800  acres.  Everything  that  can  be 
done  by  human  hands  to  make  a  perfect  landscape  has 
been  done  by  the  gardeners  of  Windsor.  There  are 
forests  and  avenues  of  grand  old  trees,  some  of  them 
known  to  be  over  1,000  years  old.  There  are  an  arti- 
ficial lake,  statues  and  lodges  half  hidden  with  foliage 
and  covered  with  ivy. 

The  Castle  consists  principally  of  two  courts — the 
lower  or  western  court  and  upper  or  eastern  court. 
Each  of  these  is  surrounded  by  buildings,  with  the  Great 


74 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  75 

Round  Tower  between  them.  This  tower  is  built  on 
a  high  eminence  and  rises  80  feet  from  the  ground.  It 
is  the  oldest  part  of  the  Palace.  From  the  top  of  the 
tower  we  have  a  beautiful  view  of  the  country  around 
about  Windsor.  Before  us  lies  the  valley  of  the  Thames. 
In  and  out  winds  the  river  like  a  silver  thread.  On 
its  calm  waters  boats  are  idly  drifting  or  darting  back 
and  forth.  Across  the  river  rise  the  gray  walls  and 
towers  of  Eton. 

In  the  East  End  are  the  State  Apartments,  the 
Audience  Chamber,  the  Presence  Chamber,  the  Guard 
Chamber,  the  Grand  Reception  room,  the  Throne 
room  and  Picture  rooms.  The  Queen's  Audience 
Chamber  is  hung  with  French  tapestry  whereon  artists 
with  skillful  fingers  have  told  the  Bible  story  of  Esther 
and  Mordecai.  In  the  Guard  Chamber  are  suits  of  old 
armor,  and  busts  of  English  heroes.  The  Rubens  room 
is  filled  with  pictures  by  that  artist,  and  the  Van  Dyck 
room  contains  portraits  by  that  master. 

The  Albert  Chapel  is  a  memorial  by  the  Queen  to 
her  husband,  Prince  Albert.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  rooms  in  the  world.  Its  ceilings  are  of 
mosaics  and  its  floor  and  walls  of  richly  colored  mar- 
bles and  precious  stones.  At  one  end  of  the  room  is 
a  marble  figure  of  the  Prince.  The  walls  are  decorated 
with  scenes  from  the  lives  of  Joseph,  Daniel  and  the 
Saviour.  The  windows  are  decorated  with  scenes  from 
the  life  of  the  Prince.  Beneath  this  chapel  lie  the 
bodies  of  two  of  England's  kings.  The  remains  of 
Prince  Albert  lie  in  a  mausoleum  in  the  park. 

From  Albert  Chapel  we  are  taken  to  St.  George's 
Chapel,  where  many  English  kings  are  buried.  This 


76 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


THRONE  ROOM,  WINDSOR  CASTLE. 

was  built  as  a  meeting  place  for  the  Knights  of  the 
Garter,  and  here  each  knight  still  has  his  stall  and 
hangs  his  banner.  It  was  in  this  chapel  that  the  mar- 
riage of  the  Prince  of  Wales  took  place.  Jennie  Lind 
sang  one  of  the  songs  at  the  ceremony.  A  poem  has 
been  written  about  it  by  Tennyson,  knd  a  grand 
picture  of  the  ceremony  painted  by  a  celebrated  artist. 
King  Edward,  the  seventh  king  of  that  name,  came 
to  the  throne  in  the  early  part  of  1901  and  now  rules 
over  the  British  Empire  and  300 ,000,000  of  the  human 
race.  He  was  the  oldest  son  of  Queen  Victoria,  and 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


77 


before  he  succeeded  to  the  throne  was  known  as  the 
Prince  of  Wales.  His  wife,  the  beautiful  Queen  Alex- 
andra, is  almost  as  much  loved  by  the  people  as 
England's  former  Queen. 


ENGLAND'S  KING. 


The  king  has  five  brothers  and  sisters, — the  Duke 
of  Connaught,  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  the  Princess 
Christian,  the  Marchioness  of  Lome,  and  the  Princess 


78  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

Beatrice.  There  are  over  sixty  living  descendents  of 
Queen  Victoria.  Among  these  are  princes,  princesses, 
dukes,  duchesses,  one  emperor,  one  empress,  one  mar- 
chioness and  one  lady. 

The  king  has  five  children,  but  the  most  important 
child  in  Europe  to-day  is  his  little  grandchild,  Prince 
Edward  of  York.  King  Edward  is  now  sixty  years  of 
age;  his  oldest  son,  the  Duke  of  Cornwall  and  York,  is 
not  strong,  and  so  .there  is  a  chance  that  the  Duke's 
little  son  may  be  king  of  England  before  he  is  of  age. 

When  the  new  king  and  queen  made  their  first  ap- 
pearance in  London,  early  in  the  year,  he  rode  in  the 
carriage  with  them,  and  the  crowds  went  wild  over  the 
baby  Prince.  It  seemed  great  fun  to  him  to  have  the 
people  cheering  and  saluting  on  all  sides,  but  he  did 
not  dream  that  they  were  hailing  him  as  their  future 
king. 

This  will  only  be  told  him  when  he  is  old  enough 
to  understand  what  it  means.  But  in  the  mean  time 
he  will  go  on  romping  in  his  nursery  and  studying  with 
teachers  just  as  other  boys  do.  By  arid  by  his  father 
will  receive  the  title  of  Prince  of  Wales,  and  he  in  turn 
will  become  Duke  of  York,  Earl  of  Inverness  and 
Baron  of  Killarney.  He  will  have  then  to  be  addressed 
as  "Royal  Highness"  and  shown  to  people  on  public 
occasions,  but  after  all  his  life  will  not  be  very  dif- 
ferent, and  not  a  whit  easier  or  more  pleasant  than 
that  of  thousands  of  other  little  English  lads. 

EDUCATION. 

We  are  interested  of  course  in  knowing  how  the 
little  English  Prince  and  his  two  sisters,  the  princesses, 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 


79 


are  being  edu- 
cated, but  we 
wish  also  to 
know  something 
of  the  education 
of  other  London 
children.  Some 
of  them  we 
have  seen  have 
received  the 
greater  part  of 
their  education 
in  the  streets 
while  selling 
fl  ow  e  r s  a  nd 
newspape  r  s, 
blacking  boots, 
running  errands 
and  sweeping 
crossings. 

But  what  about  the  others  who  have  parents  and 
friends  to  care  for  them?  We  find  that  all  children 
between  the  ages  of  five  and  thirteen  must  attend 
some  kind  of  a  school.  The  churches  support  more 
than  one-half  the  schools  and  the  government  the 
rest.  This  is  very  different  from  our  own  system, 
where  the  government  supports  nine  tenths  of  the 
schools. 

The  pupils  in  the  government  or  public  schools  do 
not  come  from  all  sorts  of  families  as  in  the  states. 
Families  that  can  afford  to  pay  for  their  children's 
education  send  them  to  private  schools/  The  public 


LONDON  FLOWER  BOY. 


80  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

or  free  schools,  as  they  are  called,  are  looked  upon  as 
charity  schools.  The  children  who  attend  them  come 
from  the  families  of  poor  laboring  men. 

The  girls  as  well  as  the  boys  who  attend  these  free 
schools  must  earn  their  own  living  as  servants,  or  in 
the  factories,  when  their  school  days  are  over.  They 
must  learn  how  to  live  comfortably  on  small  incomes 
at  home. 

For  this  reason  house-keeping  schools  have  been 
introduced  into  the  public  schools.  In  these  the  girls 
are  taught  how  to  cook,  wash,  iron,  clean  house,  take 
care  of  sick  people  and  babies,  do  marketing  and  keep 
accounts.  As  these  schools  have  only  lately  been 
established,  additions  have  been  made  to  all  the 
school  houses  in  the  city  in  order  that  this  plan  may 
be  carried  out. 

There  are  a  number  of  noted  endowment  schools 
which  prepare  boys  for  college.  Four  of  these  are  at 
Eton,  Rugby,  Harrow  and  Winchester.  These  are 
boarding  schools  with  from  four  hundred  to  one  thou- 
sand pupils.  A  high  degree  of  scholarship  is  required 
at  Winchester,  and  to  this  school  are  sent  the  children 
of  clergymen,  professional  men  and  the  upper  classes. 
Many  wealthy  people  send  their  children  to  Eton, 
where  the  pupils  are  not  required  to  study  so  hard. 
But  many  noted  men  have  received  part  of  their  edu- 
cation there. 

in  these  schools  much  attention  isjrnid  to  develop- 
ing character  and  to  the  physical  growth.  Fights  are 
a  common  occurrence  in  schools,  but  there  is  rarely 
any  ill-feeling  over  them.  The  boys  fight  to  deter- 
mine which  is  the  stronger  physically.  The  favor- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND.  81 

ite  game  is  cricket,  which  gives  them  plenty  of  exer- 
cise. The  object  of  their  games  seems  to  be  a  good 
time,  rather  than  the  winning. 

Before  leaving  England,  we  shall  visit  two  of  its 
great  universities,  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 

THE  LONDON  SEASON. 

The  pleasantest  time  to  be  in  London  is  the  season 
between  Easter  and  the  middle  of  August.  When 
Parliament  closes  the  season  is  over,  and  the  fashion- 
able people  of  London  leave  the  city  and  go  to  their 
country  homes,to  the  seaside.the  island  resorts  or  travel 
on  the  continent. 

You  have  seen  how  some  of  the  society  people 
amuse  themselves.  They  ride  or  walk  in  the  morning; 
drive  in  the  afternoon;  spend  their  evenings  at  the 
club  or  at  dinners,  parties,  balls,  concerts  and  the 
theatre. 

Then  there  are  special  events  which  attract  all 
classes  of  Lodoners.  These  are  the  cricket  matches 
between  Eton  and  Harrow,  the  Derby  race  and  the 
boat  races  or  Royal  Regatta.  The  boat  races  are  held 
near  the  town  of  Henley  on  the  Thames.  'You  remem- 
ber that  our  ride  on  the  Thames  took  us  near  this 
place. 

The  cricket  matches  take  place  at  Eton,  beside 
the  Thames.  Eton  is  across  the  river  from  Windsor, 
and  is  one  of  the  oldest  public  schools  of  England. 
Many  of  the  boys  who  attend  school  there  are  sons  of 
noblemen  and  wealthy  Englishmen  and  so  it  is  the 
fashion  for  not  only  their  families,  but  for  great 
crowds,  to  attend  the  cricket  matches  between  this 


82  A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND. 

school  and  its  rivals.  The  majority  of  those  attending 
are  not  much  interested  in  either  side.  The  carriage 
drive  and  the  day  in  the  country  are  pleasant;  how- 
ever, and  it  gives  them  an  outing. 

The  greatest  event  of  the  year  is  the  Derby  race. 
Members  of  the  royal  family  usually  attend  this,  and 
many  of  London's  great  men  and  women.  Numbers 
who  do  not  care  for  the  races  go  merely  to  see  Eng- 
land's lords  and  ladies,  and  other  important  spectators, 
who  appear  in  places  reserved  for  them. 

All  of  the  fashionable  ladies  have  costumes  especially 
prepared  for  this  occasion,  and  the  stands  and  car- 
riages that  border  the  race  course  present  very  gay 
pictures.  The  finest  and  most  beautiful  horses  in 
England  are  to  be  seen  at  these  races.  The  race 
horses  are  the  fleetest  the  world  can  afford.  The 
leaders  are  known  far  and  wide,  for  they  have  been 
made  known  to  the  people  through  their  pictures  and 
newspaper  descriptions. 

But  these  races  mean  much  more  than  amusement 
to  some  of  those  who  attend,  for  they  are  made  the 
occasion  of  betting.  Many  men  stake  their  last 
dollar  upon  the  horse  they  feel  confident  will  win,  and 
while  some  win  others  lose  all  they  have. 

Now,  let  us  say  good-bye  to  London  with  its  fog 
and  smoke,  and  go  out  into  the  beautiful  country 
around  about  the  city.  There  are  many  pleasant  ex- 
cursions to  be  made  into  the  suburbs.  Then,  too,  we 
must  see  something  of  English  country  life  and  of 
the  people  and  places  in  other  parts  of  England. 
This  will  take  us  another  month,  and  these  trips  will 
make  the  next  of  our  little  journeys. 


A  Little  Journey 
to  England  and  Wales 


AROUND  ABOUT  LONDON. 

We  have  seen  many  of  the  wonders  of  London,  its 
busy,  crowded  streets  and  something  of  the  work  that 
is  being  carried  on  in  both  London  and  Liverpool. 
But  we  have  seen  little  of  the  home  life  of  the  English 
people.  For  this  we  will  go  to  the  country. 

When  the  London  season  is  over,  everyone  who  can 
afford  to  do  so  leaves  town.  Some  go  to  their  country 
homes,  others  to  Brighton,  or  the  Isle  of  Wight,  or  to 
some  seaside  or  country  resort,  for  a  rest  or  change. 
Let  us  go,  too. 

There  is  so  much  yet  to  be  seen  that  we  are  tempted 
to  linger  awhile  longer  in  this  fascinating  old  London 
Town.  There  are  so  many  excursions  we  might  make 
into  the  suburbs,  if  time  would  but  permit.  There  is 
the  great  Crystal  Palace,  where  everyone  goes  who 
wishes  to  study  the  products  and  industries  of  the 
world.  It  is  a  huge  building  of  glass  and  iron  stand- 
ing in  the  midst  of  forests  and  parks. 

Then  there  are  Richmond  and  Hampton  Courts,  Kew 
Gardens,  Epping  Forest  and  High  Beech.  Tourists  are 
sure  to  visit  these  places.  It  is  said  that  a  quarter  of 
million  persons  visit  Hampton  Court  every  year.  The 
palace  at  this  place  is  the  largest  royal  palace  in  Great 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND    AND  WALES. 

Britain,  containing  1,000  rooms.  Many  years  ago  it 
was  used  as  a  royal  residence,  but  most  of  it  is  now 
occupied  by  royal  pensioners  of  the  Crown.  The  peo- 
ple who  go  there  are  attracted  by  the  fine  picture 
galleries  and  the  beautiful  grounds. 

Greenwich  is  a  pleasant  place,  too,  a  little  over  four 
miles  from  London  Bridge.  Greenwich  Park  is  a 
favorite  resort  of  Londoners  on  Sundays  and  holidays. 
In  the  center  of  this  park  is  the  famous  Greenwich 
Royal  Observatory.  It  is  at  this  place  that  the  cor- 
rect time  for  the  whole  of  England  is  settled  every 
day.  From  this  place  it  is  telegraphed  to  other  im- 
portant towns  and  cities. 

BRIGHTON. 

i  If  we  look  on  the  map  we  shall  find,  as  we  do, 
that  Brighton  is  on  the  sea  and  directly  south  of  Lon- 
don. It  is  the  most  popular  of  all  the  seaside  resorts 
in  the  British  Isles.  Over  50,000  visitors  and  tourists 
go  there  every  year.  It  is  not  a  pretty  place,  but  the 
air  is  clear  and  bracing,  and  the  bathing  fine. 

The  most  attractive  place  in  the  town  is  the  beach. 
Crowds  are  walking  up  and  down  in  the  sun  listening 
to  the  music  or  bathing  in  the  cool  sea.  Children  with 
bare  legs  are  wading  in  the  water  or  playing  in  the 
sand.  There  are  numberless  people  driving  about  in 
carriages,  and  houses  stretching  along  the  shore.' 
Everyone  seems  bent  upon  amusement.  A  man 
comes  to  us  and  asks  us  to  buy  some  shells ;  another, 
fruit;  and  tho  third,  papers.  A  gipsy  wants  us  to 
have  our  fortune  told,  and  a  sailor  begs  us  to  let  him 
take  us  out  for  a  sail  in  his  boat.  There  is  a  Punch 


COUNTY  MAP 

VV) 

ENGLAOTT  <&•  WALES, 


6          A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND    AND  WALES. 

and  Judy  show,  too;  but  all  these  things  we  have  had 
elsewhere  and  so  we  decide  to  visit  the  Aquarium. 

This  is  a  place  where  all  kinds  of  curious  fish  are 
kept.  What  a  huge  tank!  These  certainly  can  not 
be  fishes — they  look  like  plants.  But  they  are  fishes- 
anemones,  that  live  on  the  rocks  in  the  sea  and  make 
the  bottom  of  the  ocean  look  like  a  beautiful  flower- 
garden.  And  there  are  dolphins,  too;  and  porpoises 
and  seals  and  sea-lions  and  mackerel  and  herrings  and 
shrimps — and  ever  so  many  more,  whose  names  we  do 

not  know. 

THE  ISLE  OF  WIGHT. 

"Of  all  the  southern  isles,  she  holds  the  highest  place, 
And  evermore  hath  been  the  great'st  in  Britain's  grace." 

The  Isle  of  Wight  is  the  one  spot  in  England  where 
"skies  are  blue  and  bright"  always,  and  "harsh  winds 
never  come."  Its  air  is  soft  and  pleasant,  and  thous- 
ands of  English  people  go  there  every  year  for  rest 
and  health  and  recreation. 

To  reach  this  little  paradise  we  must  take  a 
steamer,  but  the  channel  that  divides  the  island  from 
the  main-land  is  less  than  half  a  dozen  miles. 

It  was  in  Norris  Castle  on  this  island  that  Queen 
Victoria  passed  many  of  her  happy  childhood  days, 
and  later  she  selected  this  isle  as  her  winter  home. 
In  1840  she  purchased  an  old  manor  house  called 
"Osborne  House"  and  made  it  her  home  for  several 
months  each  year,  for  sixty  years.  It  was  in  this 
house  she  passed  her  last  days. 

Osborne  House  is  in  the  midst  of  a  lovely  park, 
sloping  down  to  the  beach,  and  well  worth  a  visit,  but 
the  Castle  of  Carisbrooke  is  a  more  interesting  build- 


A   LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND  AND  WALES.         7 

ing.  To  reach  it  we  go  through  the  heart  of  the  island. 
On  either  side  of  the  road  are  blossoming  fields 
with  green  hedges.  Here  and  there  are  farm  houses, 
or  tiny  ivy-covered  cottages  with  thatched  roofs,  and 
gardens  gorgeous  with  flowers. 


OSBORNE  HOUSE,  ISLE  OF  WIGHT. 

Carisbrooke  is  one  of  the  most  famous  old  castles  in 
England.  It  stands  on  a  hill  overlooking  the  town 
of  Carisbrooke.  where  it  has  stood  for  twenty  centur- 
ies. If  its  walls  could  speak,  what  wonderful  stories 
they  might  tell! 

Kings  have  lived  within  these  walls.  They  are  so 
strongly  built  that  it  is  thought  to  have  been  a  Brit- 


8         A   LITTLE    JOURNEY    TO  ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 

ish  camp  long  ago.  It  has  been  used  as  a  fort,  too. 
The  outer  wall  was  added  to  it  for  tnis  purpose. 
The  castle  is  surrounded  by  a  moat  and  over  this  the 
draw-bridge  hung.  The  moat  was  kept  full  of  water 
in  olden  times,  and  watchmen  in  the  towers  were 
constantly  on  the  lookout  for  enemies.  When  the 
enemy  appeared,  the  bridge  was  drawn  up  and  there 
was  no  way  to  reach  the  gate,  except  to  swim  across. 

The  part  of  this  castle  that  stands  higher  than  the 
others  is  called  a  keep.  In  the  center  of  the  keep  is  a 
well  three  hundred  feet  deep.  In  the  court-yard  is  an- 
other, two  hundred  feet  deep.  The  water  from  this 
well  is  drawn  up  by  means  of  a  wheel  and  a  donkey. 
The  people  in  this  castle  did  not  mean  to  suffer  from 
water  famine,  you  see,  in  case  they  were  besieged  by 
their  enemies.  But  the  castle  is  in  ruins  now  and  its 
enemies  gone,  ages  ago. 

Near  the  village  is  the  old  Whiffingham  church,  but 
we  only  stop  for  a  glimpse,  for  we  want  to  reach  Far- 
ingford — which  was  the  poet  Tennyson's  home  for 
years.  The  house  is  not  beautiful;  but  it  is  in  a  quiet, 
peaceful  spot,  "far  from  the  noise  and  smoke  of  town." 
This  was  the  home  where  most  of  his  poems  were 
written.  But  crowds  of  visitors  sought  out  Tennyson, 
in  this  home  hidden  away  in  the  pine  woods,  and  left 
him  so  little  time  that  he  was  at  last  obliged  to  go 
away  from  this  place,  to  get  time  for  his  work. 

ALFRED   TENNYSON. 

Why  should  people  wish  to  see  and  talk  to  this  man? 
Because  he  was  one  of  England's  greatest  poets.  Al- 
fred Tennyson  was  born  in  the  little  town  of  Somersby, 


A    LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND  AND  WALES.         9 


WHIFFINGHAM  CHURCH,  CARISBROOKE,  ISLE  OP  WIGHT. 


10      A   LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 

in  a  beautiful  valley  in  the  northern  part  of  England. 
When  he  and  his  brother  Charles  were  children  to- 
gether they  were  fond  of  acting  out  old-time  stories  of 
England.  True  stories  they  were,  too,  and  as  wonder- 
ful and  fascinating  to  the  English  boys  today  as  to  the 
little  Tennyson  boys  many  years  ago.  For  they  were 
of  brave  knights  defending  a  castle,  or  their  king;  or 


TENNYSON'S  BIRTHPLACE. 

rescuing  some  person  in  distress.  They  made  castles 
of  stones  and  dug  moats  or  little  ditches  about  them. 
They  carried  water  and  filled  the  moat.  Then  one 
boy  would  don  a  kind  of  armor,  and  with  his  spear 
make  a  fierce  attack  upon  the  castle  while  the  other 
defended  it. 

And  when  Alfred  grew  up  He  wrote  beautiful  poems 
about  the  brave  deeds  of  these  old  English  knights 
and  their  kings,  for  he  had  read  them  and  thought  them 
all  out  so  many  times  that  he  knew  them  by  heart. 


A    LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND   AND    WALES.       11 

Alfred's  home  was  not  far  from  the  sea,  and  in  the 
summer  the  family  went  to  a  little  town  on  the  sea- 
shore called  Marblethorpe.  It  was  while  there  that 
Alfred  began  to  write  his  poems.  He  explored  the 
coast  carefully  and  studied  the  dunes  and  dykes,  the 


ALFRED  TENNYSON. 


salt  marsh,  the  shells  and  stones,  and  after  a  time  he 
put  into  verse  the  thoughts  that  came  to  him  about 
these  things.  Among  these  verses  are  'The  Brook," 
'The  Seashell,"  and  "Break,  Break,  Break.' '  His 
later  poems  are  full  of  pictures  of  English  scenes  and 


12      A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND    AND   WALES. 

homes,  arid  no  modern  poet  has  equaled  him  as  a 
word-painter.  His  poems  are  full  of  high  and  noble 
ideals  and  are  as  true  as  they  are  beautiful. 

As  a  man  he  was  rich,  honored,  and  sought  after  by 
people  all  over  England;  but  he  liked  best  to  remain 
quietly  with  his  family,  and  his  pen  was  never  idle. 
Mr.  Tennyson  had  three  homes  in  different  parts  of 
England,  and  beautiful  homes  they  were.  But  the  one 
in  the  South  of  England  he  loved  the  best  of  all,  for 
its  windows  looked  out  on  his  much-beloved  sea. 

Charles  Dickens  was  one  of  his  friends  and  was  very 
fond  of  reading  his  poems;  and  so  was  the  Queen,  for 
she  made  Tennyson  Poet  Laureate.  This  is  considered 
a  great  honor.  A  Poet  Laureate  is  a  court  poet  for 
great  occasions.  The  office  is  kept  for  life. 

When  he  died  he  was  buried  in  the  Poet's  Corner  in 
Westminster  Abbey.  One  thing  Tennyson  has  said 
which  should  never  be  forgotten:— 

"Howe'er  it  be,  it  seems  to  me 

'Tis  only  noble  to  be  good; 
Kind  hearts  are  more  than  coronets 
And  simple  faith  than  Norman  blood." 

ENGLISH   HOflES. 

"The  stately  homes  of  England 

How  beautiful  they  stand! 
Amidst  their  tall  ancestral  trees 

O'er  all  the  pleasant  land. 
The  deer  across  their  greensward  bound, 

Through  shade  and  sunny  gleam, 
And  the  swan  glides  past  them  with  the  sound 

Of  some  rejoicing  stream. 
***** 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       13 

The  cottage  homes  of  England! 

By  thousands  on  her  plains, 
They  are  smiling  o'er  the  silvery  brooks 

And  round  the  hamlet  fanes; 
Through  the  glowing  orchards  forth  they  peep 

Each  from  its  nook  of  leaves, 
And  fearless  there  the  lowly  sleep 

As  the  bird  beneath  the  eaves. 

Felicia  Hemans. 

Let  us  return  to  the  mainland  and  visit  some  of  the 
fair  country  homes  of  England.  English  people  love 
the  country  and,  where  they  are  wealthy  or  can  afford 
to,  live  there  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  The  home 
of  the  well-to-do  Englishman  is  usually  from  six  to 
twenty  miles  from  town.  It  is  built  on  a  terrace  or 
set  in  the  midst  of  well-kept  lawns  and  parks. 

But  we  want  also  to  see  England's  ruined  castles,  its 
stately  ancestral  halls,  its  beautiful  old  manor  houses, 
and  the  cottages  of  the  peasants,  far  removed  from 
the  city.  To  do  this  we  must  drive  through  the  coun- 
try, and  for  a  long  coaching  trip  we  find  the  drag  the 
most  comfortable  and  convenient  conveyance.  It  is  a 
long,  high-wheeled  carriage,  something  like  our  Tally- 
ho  coach.  From  its  top  one  can  see  much  more  than 
from  an  ordinary  carriage. 

Nothing  could  be  more  lovely  than  the  country 
in  England.  We  do  not  wonder  that  the  people  pre- 
fer to  live  here. 

The  road  is  bordered  by  rows  of  stately  trees;  the 
roadsides  are  as  neat  as  a  lawn.  The  vine-covered, 
thatched  cottages  are  set  back  in  gardens  gay  with 
old-fashioned  posies.  The  walks  and  hedges  are 
trim,  the  fields  without  weeds,  the  barns,  sheds  and 


14      A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND   AND    WALES. 

granaries  well  built,  and  every  home  is  carefully  fenced 
or  walled  about. 

As  we  drive  gaily  along  the    smooth,  fine    country 


A  COTTAGE  HOME. 


road,  one  beautiful  picture  after  another  passes  before 
our  eyes, 

"The  green  lanes,  the  thatched  cottages,  the   mead- 


A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       15 

ows  brightened  with  wild  flowers,the  little  churches  cov- 
ered with  dark-green  ivy,  the  gables  festooned  with 
roses,  the  foot-paths  that  wind  across  wild  heaths 
and  lonesome  fields,  the  narrow,  shining  rivers  brimful 
to  their  banks  and  crossed  here  and  there  with  gray 
and  moss-grown  bridges,  the  stately  elms  with  low- 
hanging  branches  drooping  over  a  turf  of  emerald  vel- 
vet, the  sheep  and  deer  that  rest  in  shady  places,  the 
pretty  children  who  cluster  round  the  porches  of  their 
cleanly,  cozy  homes  and  peep  at  the  wayfarer — these 
are  some  of  the  everyday  joys  of  rural  England." 

In  every  part  of  the  country  one  sees  flocks  of 
sheep — on  the  moors  and  hills,  in  the  valleys,  and  al- 
ways on  the  farms.  The  farmers  often  confine  them 
in  hurdles,  a  basket-work  fencing  woven  from  split 
hazel.  These  fences  are  light  and  easily  moved;  and 
as  soon  as  the  sheep  have  eaten  the  grass  from  one 
field,  the  fences  and  sheep  are  moved  to  another. 

The  country  is  cut  up  into  a  sort  of  checker-board 
by  hedges-  solid  banks  of  green.  The  fields  are  of 
every  size  and  shape,  and  each  field  has  its  particular 
name.  Every  farm  has  its  name,  too — a  name  it  has 
borne  for  hundreds  of  years  perhaps.  These'  fields 
and  farms  and  estates  remain  in  the  possession  of  the 
same  family  for  generations,  being  handed  down  from 
the  father  to  the  oldest  son. 

It  is  a  very  difficult  matter  to  buy  a  farm  or  estate 
on  this  account.  The  Englishman  is  very  unwilling 
to  part  with  his  ancestral  home.  The  honor  of  the 
family  demands  that  it  be  kept  and  passed  to  the  next 
who  bears  the  name  and  takes  the  place  of  the  head  oi 
the  family. 


16      A   LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

Much  of  the  land  outside  of  the  city  belongs  to  the 
estates  of  the  nobility.  Do  you  know  what  is  meant 
by  this  term?  It  means  members  of  the  royal  family 
or  persons  who  have  inherited  titles  from  their  ances- 
tors, or  had  titles  given  them  by  their  sovereign. 


A  COUNTKY  LANE. 


Sometimes  titles  and  lands  are  conferred  upon  people 
for  some  service  rendered  the  country  or  its  sovereign. 
In  this  way  much  of  the  land  in  England  has  come  in- 
to the  possession  of  its  princes,  dukes,  lords,  barons, 
and  wealthy  squires. 


A  LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND   AND    WALES.       17 

These  estates  contain  hundreds,  even  thousands,  of 
acres,  and  to  them  we  must  go  if  we  wish  to  see  the 
old  castles,  halls  and  manor  houses  that  are  England's 
pride. 

Many  of  these  homes  are  in  ruins,  but  their  owners 
will  not  have  them  rebuilt  or  changed  in  any  way. 
They  reverence  and  value  them  because  of  their  his- 
tories, and  because  they  have  been  their  family 
homes  for  generations/ 

Often,  when  it  is  impossible  to  live  in  these  places, 
the  owners  keep  the  grounds  in  good  condition  and 
throw  them  open  to  the  public.  For  the  events  and 
people  connected  with  these  old  places  have  come  to 
be  a  part  of  the  history  of  England,  and  they  are  of  in- 
terest to  the  whole  world  as  well  as  to  the  owner. 

We  pass  shepherds  with  dogs  at  their  heels,  watch- 
ing their  flocks  in  the  meadows;  farm  laborers  carrying 
their  hoes  or  hooks  for  hedge  trimming,  and  work- 
men with  baskets  of  tools.  They  are  going  to  their 
day's  work.  There  are  carters,  too,  in  white  blouses, 
walking  beside  tandem  teams;  and  farmers,  or  garden- 
ers going  to  market. 

A  splendid  carriage  dashes  by,  with  a  distinguished 
looking  old  gentleman  seated  within.  He  is  some  coun- 
try squire,  perhaps,  returning  from  the  city. 

It  may  be  that  the  land  lying  along  this  very  road- 
side is  a  part  of  his  estate.  A  sudden  turn  in  the  road 
takes  him  from  our  view,  but  a  minute  more  brings  us 
also  to  the  bend  and  to  our  eyes  the  very  thing  we 
have  been  wishing  to  see — one  of  England's  "ancestral 
halls," — a  stately  and  grand  old  castle. 


1.8      A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

THE  CASTLE. 

A  castle  is  the  name  of  the  principal  residence  of  a 
nobleman,  when  it  is  also  a  fortress.  In  olden  times 
they  were  compelled  to  build  such  strongholds  to  pro- 
tect themselves  from  their  enemies.  There  was  little 
law  but  might. 

England  for  many  centuries  was  the  scene  of  con- 
stant warfare.  The  people  were  often  obliged  to  de- 
fend themselves  from  the  attacks  of  different  nations 
that  wished  to  conquer  them. 

In  their  castles  the  chiefs  of  clans  would  gather 
their  own  people,  their  family,  soldiers,  servants  and 
all  who  looked  to  them  as  their  head.  The  castles 
were  usually  built  upon  islands  or  high  places,  that 
cowld  be  easily  defended.  They  had  thick  walls  of 
stone  and  were  surrounded  by  deep,  broad  ditches,  or 
moats,  filled  with  water.  Underneath  the  castles 
were  dungeons  for  prisoners. 

In  the  center  of  the  castle  was  a  great  hall,  where 
the  owner  could  entertain  a  large  company  of  his 
friends.  At  the  end  of  this  hall  was  a  place  raised 
higher  than  the  rest  of  the  floor,  called  the  dais,  where 
the  chief  stood.  Near  him,  at  meals,  were  seated  per- 
sons of  the  highest  rank,  while  lower  down  were  those 
of  less  importance 

Will  this  castle  be  like  those  others  of  which  we 
have  read  so  often?  Perhaps  this  place  has  not  been 
the  scene  of  any  fierce  battles.  It  is  at  the  top  of  a 
hill,  but  there  is  no  deep  moat  about  it. 

The  castle  before  us  has  many  towers  and  turrets,and 
its  gray  stone  walls  are  half  covered  with  the  beautiful 
ivy  which  one  sees  everywhere  in  England,  and  of  which 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND 'AND  WALES.'      19 


20      A  LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND   AND  WALES. 

Dickens  wrote.  The  building  must  cover  almost  half 
an  acre,  and  is  big  enough  for  a  dozen  families,  and 
large  ones  at  that.  If  we  might  spend  just  one  day 
there  !  Perhaps  we  might  be  allowed  to  drive  through 
the  grounds. 

The  castle  and  grounds  are  surrounded  by  a  high 
stone  wall,  green  in  places  with  moss  and  ivy.  There 
is  a  great  stone  gateway,  with  massive  iron  gates.  Just 
inside  is  the  lodge-house,  also  of  stone  and  covered 
with  climbing  roses  and  ivy.  The  gate-keeper  comes 
out  and  admits  his  master's  carriage.  Through  the 
gates  we  see  a  broad,  graveled  driveway  and  a  lawn  as 
smooth  as  velvet.  Sturdy  oaks  and  sweeping  elms 
lend  their  shade  to  the  park  about  the  house.  Some 
of  these  magnificent  trees  are  more  than  four  hundred 
years  old. 

The  old  gate. keeper  answers  our  questions  politely 
and  grants  our  request.  His  master  is  very  kind  to 
visitors,  he  tells  us,  and  often  allows  them  to  drive 
through  his  grounds.  Sometimes  he  is  allowed  to  take 
visitors  through  the  castle,  too,  but  that  is  when  his 
master  and  the  family  are  away.  Part  of  the  sea- 
son the  owner  must  spend  in  London,  for  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Lords.  But  he  is  at  home  now 
and  the  house  is  full  of  guests.  There  are  forty  of 
these,  and  others  expected,  for  a  hunting  party. 

Part  of  the  castle  is  too  old  to  be  used.  Its  walls 
are  crumbling  to  pieces.  When  the  family  is  gone, 
most  of  the  rooms  now  open  are  closed,  and  only  the 
servants'  quarters  used.  Yes,  it  is  a  pleasant  place  to 
stay.  No  place  in  the  world  is  so  dear  to  the  gate- 
keeper. He  was  born  there  the  same  year  as  his  Lordship. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND   AND   WALES.      21 

They  played  together  as  boys,  for  his  father  had  been 
the  gardener  on  the  place,  and  his  grandfather  as  well. 

His  Lordship  was  fond  of  him  and  kind  to  his  chil- 
dren. He  had  sent  them  to  school  and  paid  for  their 
education.  When  the  gate  keeper  is  too  old  to  work  he 
will  be  provided  for.  His  father  had  been  remembered 
in  the  former  master's  will,  and  this  one,  he  was  sure, 
would  not  forget  him.  He  had  tried  to  be  faithful. 
Many  of  the  other  servants  had  been  at  the  castle  all 
their  lives,  and  so  had  their  fathers  and  mothers  before 
them.  They  were  as  fond  and  proud  of  the  place  as 
if  it  were  their  own, — and  no  wonder ! 

The  lawns  are  dotted  with  flowerbeds  of  many 
shapes,  and  on  the  grounds  are  a  great  flower  garden, 
a  market  garden,  conservatories,  graperies,  and  orch- 
ards. There  are  stables  full  of  fine  horses,  and  ken- 
nels for  the  hunting  dogs.  Many  acres  of  the  estate 
near  the  house  have  been  reserved  for  parks — deer 
and  hunting  parks. 

These  parks  or  game  preserves  are  cared  for  and 
guarded  by  gamekeepers.  No  one  but  the  master 
and  his  friends  is  ever  allowed  to  hunt  or  shoot 
there.  If  a  hunter  from  the  city,  or  one  of  the  coun- 
try men  should  venture  to  shoot  even  a  partridge,  he 
would  be  arrested  by  the  gamekeepers  and  impris- 
oned by  the  squire. 

It  must  seem  very  hard  for  the  poor  people  living 
near  to  be  obliged  to  suffer  hunger  at  times,  with 
these  great  parks  full  of  deer  and  rabbit,  grouse,  and 
birds  of  all  kinds,  before  their  very  eyes.  It  seems  a 
pity,  too,  for  so  much  land  to  be  lying  idle  when  so 
many  poor  people  in  the  neighborhood  have  not  even 


22       A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND  AND    WALES. 

a  garden  patch.  These  poor  laboring  people  think  so, 
also.  They  think  the  land  should  be  put  to  a  better 
use  than  to  provide  amusement  for  a  few  weeks  each 
year  for  one  rich  man. 

But  the  noble  lord  who  owns  all  these  acres  cares 
very  little  what  they  think.  The  land  is  his,  and  he 
means  to  do  what  he  pleases  with  it.  His  hunting 
grounds  are  his  particular  pride,  and  hunting  and 
shooting  his  favorite  pastime.  He  entertains  a  great 
many  of  his  friends  during  the  hunting  season,  and 
this  is  the  gayest  time  of  the  year  for  the  people  at 
the  great  house. 

There  are  big  dinners  and  balls,  and  garden  and 
hunting  parties  for  the  "gentry,"  and  entertain- 
ments for  the  servants. 

One  of  the  most  exciting  events  of  the  year  in  the 
country  is  the  fox  hunt.  This  is  attended  by  gentle- 
men and  ladies  from  many  parts  of  the  country.  They 
meet  at  some  central  place  near  the  castle,  accom- 
panied by  their  hounds.  The  holes  of  the  foxes  have 
all  been  closed:  and  so  there  is  no  place  for  a  fox  to  go 
and  nothing  else  to  do,  when  released  or  raised,  but  to 
run  for  his  life. 

The  men  and  hounds  follow  quickly  after,  jumping 
ditches,  walls,  gates,  hedges,  and  turning  aside  for 
nothing  in  the  way.  It  is  reckless  sport,  for  many  of 
the  riders  are  thrown  and  killed  every  year  in  the 
wild  effort  to  reach  the  fox  first.  It  seems  rather 
cruel  sport,  also,  for  the  harmless  fox  has  no  way  of 
defending  himself  from  his  enemies. 

But  there  is  a  part  of  this  estate  we  have  not  seen 
—the  farm  lands.  We  take  leave  of  the  kind  old  gate- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND  AND  WALES.        23 

keeper,  and  follow  the  road  which  will  lead  to  the 
home  of  a  farmer  who  lives  near,  and  also  to  a  village 
a  little  farther  on. 

THE  FARMER. 

The  great  estates  and  farms  of  Great  Britain  are 
not  tilled  by  the  owners.  They  rent  the  land  to 
farmers,  who  employ  laborers  to  do  the  work.  The 
farmer  is  the  most  important  tenant  of  the  nobleman, 


OLD  ENGLISH  FARM  HOUSE. 

or  the  wealthy  country  squire.  But  this  farmer  does 
not  lead  the  life  of  the  farmer  in  America.  He  never 
thinks  of  milking  or  going  out  into  the  fields  to  plow 
or  reap  his  harvest. 

All    this  is   left  to  his    laborers.     He  gives  orders 
to  his  workmen,  and  acts  as  a  manager  only.     The 


24      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

chief  farmer  of  this  big  estate  is  a  fine-looking  man- 
tall,  broad-chested  and  pleasant-faced.  He  always 
wears  his  leathern  riding-gaiters,  for  he  is  in  the  saddle 
much  of  the  time,  riding  back  and  forth  between  the 
farms  or  to  town. 

His  home  is  a  very  comfortable  one.  He  takes  time 
to  read  the  morning  papers  before  breakfast,  and  after 
breakfast  has  morning  prayers,  for  he  is  a  devout 
churchman.  The  servants  are  called  in  for  prayers, 
but  the  children  are  not  there.  They  are  away  at 
boarding-school  near  town,  and  only  come  home  for 
the  holidays. 

The  homes  of  the  English  are  very  attractive  from 
the  outside,  and  the  yards  and  gardens  and  lawns  are 
beautifully  kept;  but  the  houses  are  not  so  cheerful 
and  sunny  as  ours,  nor  so  comfortable.  The  windows 
have  small  panes  of  glass,  and  are  set  in  such  thick 
stone  walls  that  little  sunshine  comes  through.  They 
lack  the  conveniences,  too,  to  which  one  is  accustomed 
in  the  United  States. 

Come  into  this  house  with  me.  The  hall  looks  bare 
and  rather  dark,  but  the  drawing  rooms  are  lighter 
and  very  pleasant.  The  room  is  crowded  with  chairs, 
lounges,  tables,  cabinets  and  other  pieces  of  furniture, 
leaving  little  room  for  one  to  walk  about.  There  is 
not  a  rocking  chair  in  the  room,  and  the  furniture  is 
dark  and  rather  stiff.  But  there  are  flowers,  ferns  and 
palms  all  about,  and  these  brighten  the  room  and 
make  it  look  home-like. 

The  dining-room  also  we  find  furnished  with  dark, 
heavy  furniture,  and  this  room  too  is  dark.  House-- 
keeping in  England  is  very  different  from  house-keep- 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       25 

ing  in  America.  Come  into  the  kitchen  and  see  for 
yourself.  What  a  dingy  place!  The  windows  are  very 
small  and  the  walls  are  blackened  with  smoke.  In- 
stead of  a  smooth  wooden  floor,  painted  or  oiled,  there 
is  one  of  blocks  of  stone,  with  cracks  between  the 
stones. 

There  is  no  stove;  but,  instead,  a  "Kitchner."  This 
is  an  iron  arrangement  built  into  a  brick  fire-place. 
It  extends  into  the  room  but  a  few  inches.  In  the 
middle  of  the  kitchner ,  is  a  small,  open  grate  in 
which  a  fire  of  soft  coal  is  burning.  On  one  side  of 
the  grate  is  a  small  iron  tank  to  hold  hot  water, 
and  on  the  other,  an  oven.  Sometimes  there  is  no 
tank  for  hot  water,  and  then  the  water  must  be  heated 
in  the  teakettle  on  the  grate.  The  oven  holds  a  joint 
of  meat.  When  a  fowl  or  joint  of  meat  is  to  be 
roasted,  it  is  hung  by  a  chain  before  the  fire  and 
turned  and  basted  until  it  is  cooked  through.  Some- 
times, usually  on  Sunday,  the  meat  is  sent  to  the  pub- 
lic bakery  and  brought  home  at  noon.  Sometimes 
the  cake  and  tarts  are  also  sent  there  to  be  baked. 
The  pots  containing  the  vegetables  are  hung  over  the 
fire  on  cranes. 

The  ovens  are  very  small  to  bake  bread.  So  the  mis- 
tress usually  buys  her  bread  of  the  baker.  Very  good 
bread  it  is,  too,  and  cheap.  Every  day  the  baker's 
wagon  comes  to  the  door  and  leaves  a  number  of 
loaves.  This  furnishes  the  reason  for  the  great  num- 
ber of  baker  shops  one  sees  in  the  cities  and  towns. 
In  many  of  these  shops  nothing  is  sold  but  bread  and 
flour;  in  others,  cake  and  biscuit  may  also  be  bought. 

Coal  is  commonly  used  in  the  open  fires  in  the  kitch- 


26      A  LITTLE    JOURNEY    TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

ners,  and  everything  in  the  room  is  soon  covered  with 
soot  unless  it  is  cleaned  very  often. 

The  mistress  of  this  home  does  not  try  to  do  as 
many  things  as  the  mistress  of  a  similar  home  in 
America.  She  keeps  more  servants,  because  servants 
are  not  paid  as  high  wages  in  England.  There  is 
less  work  in  English  homes,  too.  The  bread  and  cake 
are  made  by  the  baker,  and  the  laundry  work  and 
dressmaking  done  outside  the  home. 

Each  servant  has  his  or  her  particular  work  and  is 
rarely  called  upon  to  do  extra  work  without  extra  pay. 

The  kitchen  is  presided  over  by  a  rosy-cheeked  maid, 
with  a  snowy  cap.  She  is  preparing  the  dinner  and 
tells  us  that  this  is  not  a  difficult  task  in  England. 
English  people  are  not  so  fond  of  soups,  salads,  hot 
breads  and  desserts  as  we.  They  like  good  roast  beef, 
mutton,  and  vegetables,  and  their  dinners  are  simple 
affairs.  For  breakfast  they  like  tea,  toast,  eggs,  bacon 
and  marmalade. 

When  we  tell  this  little  maid  that  it  appears  to  us 
the  English  people  are  always  eating,  she  says,  "No; 
the  English  do  not  eat  more  than  the  people  of 
America;  but  they  eat  oftener." 

She  says  that  six  meals  a  day  are  served  in  this 
house,  and  in  many  others,  and  that  four  are  taken  by 
rich  and  poor  alike.  A  cup  of  tea  is  served  in  bed; 
then  come  breakfast,  lunch,  afternoon  tea,  dinner,  and 
late  supper  before  bed  time. 

All  English  people  are  fond  of  tea,  and  every  after^ 
noon,  between  four  and  five  o'clock,  tea  is  served  to 
the  family  and  friends,  or  neighbors  who  happen  in  for 
a  chat.  If  one  drops  in  at  a  cafe  or  tea-room  at  this 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND   AND    WALES.      27 

hour  in  the  afternoon,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  find  a 
seat.  Sometimes  one  is  obliged  to  visit  three  or  four 
places  before  room  can  be  found  at  a  table. 

The  rooms  are  crowded  with  shoppers,  tourists, 
business  men  and  their  employees — all  drinking  tea. 
How  odd  it  would  seem  to  us  if  the  men  at  home  left 
their  places  of  business  in  the  afternoon  to  drink  tea! 
But  we  wish  that  some  of  the  English  people  would 
come  to  the  States  and  teach  the  people  in  our  res- 
taurants and  lunch  rooms  how  to  make  dainty  bread- 
and-butter  sandwiches,  and  pound  cake. 

THE  COUNTRY  VILLAGE. 

On  one  corner  of  the  estate,  and  not  far  from  the 
castle,  is  a  village.  At  one  time  it  consisted  of  the 
laborers  and  servants  on  the  place,  but  others  have 
come  to  make  their  homes  there,  arid  the  village  now 
numbers  a  thousand  souls.  They  are  almost  all  ten- 
ants of  the  lord  at  the  castle. 

The  village  has  one  long  street,  with  a  few  two- 
story  houses  of  brick  and  stone ;  but  most  of  the  build- 
ings are  cottages  with  roofs  of  red  brick,  tile  or  straw 
thatch.  In  the  large  houses  live  the  steward  of  the 
estate,  the  doctor,  and  the  shopkeepers.  There  are  a 
market  place,  also  a  town  hall  and  a  church;  and 
last,  but  not  least,  an  inn. 

Sometimes  the  cottages  are  crowded  closely  to- 
gether, and  are  built  directly  on  the  street  without 
even  room  for  a  path.  Sometimes  there  is  a  flower 
garden  in  front,  separated  from  the  street  by  a  stone 
wall  or  hedge.  There  are  flowers  in  the  windows  and 
vines  trained  over  the  doors  and  walls. 


28 


A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND    AND   WALES. 


These  cottages  are  pictures  of  neatness.  The  yards 
are  kept  clean  from  litter,  and  wherever  there  is  room, 
trees,  bushes,  plants  and  flowers  are  growing.  One 
thing  about  this  village  we  notice  is  that  many  of  the 
cottages  display  something  for  sale.  Numbers  of  the 
men  in  the  village  are  mechanics  or  farm  laborers,  and 
their  incomes  are  small.  The  wife  and  children  help  by 
keeping  a  few  articles  of  various  kinds  for  sale.  The 


A  COUNTRY  VILLAGE. 


stock  is  always  very  small — just  a  few  candies  or  cakes, 
bread,  vegetables,  writing  materials,  school  supplies, 
etc. 

For  amusement  the  people  have  football  and  cricket 
matches,  band  concerts  and  festivals  on  the  "recrea- 
tion  ground"  of  the  village.  They  have  flower-shows 
and  bazaars  in  the  town  hall,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
church;  annual  agricultural  product  shows;  monthly 
cattle,  sheep  and  horse  fairs,  and  the  weekly  market- 
day. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND    AND    WALES.      29 

It  is  at  the  fairs  that  the  country  people  best  enjoy 
themselves.  There  are  athletic  sports,  with  prizes  given 
by  the  Lord  of  the  castle,  the  squire  or  the  farmer. 

The  villagers  enter  heartily  into  the  contests  in 
jumping,  throwing,  wrestling,  sack  and  wheelbar- 
row races.  There  are  greased  pigs  to  be  caught,  and 
a  greased  pole  to  be  climbed  for  prizes  hung  at  the 

top. 

THE  VILLAGE  INN. 

The  village  inn  is  a  big  solid-looking  stone  building. 
Its  vine-covered  walls,  gables  and  dormer  windows, 
and  its  dainty  white  curtains,  give  it  a  very  homelike 
look.  It  has  a  great  doorway  that  leads  to  an  inner 
court.  On  either  side  of  the  court  are  the  bar  and 
the  coffee  rooms,  and  at  the  far  end  the  stables. 

The  waiting  hostler  takes  us  to  the  barmaid,  who 
meets  us  with  a  pretty  courtesy,  and  leads  us  to  the 
chambermaid.  She  takes  us  up  a  dark  old  oak  stair- 
way, through  a  dark  hall,  and  to  a  pleasant  room, 
where  we  are  to  pass  the  night.  There  is  a  cheerful 
grate  fire,  a  tall  old  "grandfather's"  clock  in  the  cor- 
ner, easy  chairs,  and  writing  materials  upon  the  table. 

There  is  a  four-post  bed  with  heavy  curtains,  and  a 
perfect  mountain  of  a  feather  bed.  What  a  comfortable 
place  it  is.  How  well  we  shall  sleep  after  our  long 
ride.  We  may  have  our  meals  served  in  our  rooms  or 
in  the  public  coffee  room,  and  we  decide  to  have  our 
supper  in  our  room. 

Breakfast  is  taken  in  the  coffee  room;  but  we  are 
the  only  guests,  and  see  no  one  but  the  servants. 
Where  is  the  landlady  all  this  time,  and  the  landlord  ? 
Perhaps  he  is  in  the  tap  or  bar-room.  This  is  the 


30        A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 

place  where  villagers  drop  in  for  their  glass  of  beer  or 
toddy.  It  is  a  plain,  bare  room,  with  high-backed 
settles  and  deal  tables.  At  the  end  is  a  counter,  pre- 
sided over  by  the  rosy-cheeked  barmaid.  But  the 
landlady  is  not  here.  She  is  in  the  bar  parlor.  Only 
a  few  favored  customers  are  admitted  to  this  place. 
This  room  has  a  fire  in  the  open  grate,  a  table  fur- 
nished with  writing  materials  and  the  morning  papers, 
easy  chairs,  a  rug  on  the  floor,  and  some  bright  pic- 
tures on  the  wall.  Here,  before  the  fire,  the  squire  and 
his  steward  and  the  farmers  are  gathered,  talking 
about  the  crops  and  sipping  ale. 

THE  LABORER. 

In  some  of  the  houses  of  this  village  of  a  thousand, 
the  people  are  packed  together  almost  as  closely  as  in 
the  crowded  parts  of  London.  Two  or  three  families 
of  ten  occupy  a  cottage  that  would  be  considered  too 
small  for  one  family  in  America.  In  this  place  and  in 
some  others,  the  farm  laborers  and  other  workmen 
have  no  vegetable  gardens  at  home,  so  they  rent  a  plot 
of  land  near  the  village  from  the  squire.  This  plot  is 
divided  into  equal-sized  strips  with  paths  between,  and 
each  laborer  has  a  strip,  and  pays  his  share  of  the  rent. 
In  the  summer  evenings  they  gather  out  here,  with 
their  wives  and  children  and  tend  their  gardens. 
They  hoe,  and  weed,  and  visit  together, finding  this,per- 
haps,  the  pleasantest  part  of  their  day's  work. 

These  laborers  are  very  poor  and  depend  on  their 
daily  wages  for  food;  but  they  can  usually  find  em- 
ployment throughout  the  year,  as  work  on  the  farms 
in  England  does  not  stop  in  winter  as  in  some  other 
countries. 


A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       31 

In  the  poorer  parts  of  England  a  .laborer  receives 
ten  or  twelve  shillings  a  week,  but  in  better  districts 
twice  that  amount.  Work  begins  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning  and  ends  at  five  in  the  evening.  The 
English  laborer  eats  oftener  than  the  laborer  in  the 
States.  At  eight,  work  is  stopped  half  an  hour  for 
breakfast;  at  ten,  it  is  stopped  again  for  lunch;  and  at 


PLOWING  WITH  OXEN. 


noon  an  hour  is  taken 
supper    is  eaten,  and 


for  dinner  and  rest.     At  five, 
just   before   bedtime    another 
lunch. 

The  food  of  the  laborer  and  his  family  is  poor  and 
coarse.  Meat  is  eaten  but  once  or  twice  a  week.  The 
cottages  are  small  and  apt  to  be  over-crowded,  for  the 
families  are  large.  There  are  often  but  two  sleeping 
rooms  for  a  family  of  eight  or  ten.  It  is  impossible 


32      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

for  many  of  the  laborers  to  support  their  families  on 
their  weekly  wages.  They  and  their  wives  and  child- 
ren often  do  extra,  or  as  they  call  it  "task  work/7  to 
earn  extra  money  to  keep  them  out  of  the  poor- 
house. 

During  the  busy  season  the  men  work  early  and  late. 
On  some  of  the  farms,  mowing  machines  are  used;  and 
on  others  the  mowing  is  done  by  gangs  of  men  with 
scythes.  These  gangs  go  from  farm  to  farm,  and 
carry  their  lunches  with  them.  In  their  lunch  bas- 
kets are  bread  and  cheese,  and  beer  or  ale  is  added  to 
this  at  meal  time. 

Sometimes  the  farmer  for  whom  they  work  sends 
them  their  ale. 

In  September,  when  the  grain  is  nearly  all  reaped  and 
the  hay  harvested,  the  hop  picking  begins.  The  hay 
and  grain  fields  look  bare  and  brown,  or  have  just 
been  plowed.  In  the  corners  .of  the  fields  are  new 
ricks  with  tidy  roofs  of  fresh  thatch. 

Over  in  the  hop  fields  are  men,  women  and  children 
pulling  the  hops  off  vines  and  putting  them  into  great 
baskets.  The  poles  are  taken  down  as  needed,  that 
the  hops  may  be  easily  reached . 

Sometimes  the  women  go  out  in  the  fields  to  help  the 
men,  and  so  we  find  them  in  the  hop  gardens,  the  wheat 
and  hay  fields.  In  the  hop  fields  the  vines  are  fastened 
to  the  poles  so  that  they  will  climb  and  not  run  along 
the  ground.  Rushes  are  used  to  tie  the  vines,  and 
these  are  carried  in  a  long  bag  fastened  to  the  waist. 

Hop  picking  is  looked  upon  as  a  kind  of  holiday, 
and  the  people  come  from  far  and  near  to  the  hop 
regions  in  September,  It  is  pleasant,  healthy  work, 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEiT  TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       33 

and  tongues  are  as  nimble  as  fingers,  in  the  merry 
groups  in  the  fields.  The  children  work  and  play  by 
turns,  while  the  grandmothers  tend  the  babies  that 
tumble  about  on  the  ground  near  the  hop  pickers. 

Many  who  live  a  number  of  miles  from  the  fields 
come    in    great    farm    wagons.     They    bring    their 


WOMEN  WORKING  IN  THE  FIELDS. 


bedding  and  fopd,  and  come  prepared  to  stay  till  the 
hop-picking  season  is  over.  They  sleep  out  of  doors 
or  in  barns  or  sheds. 

But  all  do  not  come  in  wagons.  Many  come  by 
train  from  London.  At  the  station  we  see  a  crowd 
of  rough-looking  people,  heavily  laden  with  their  bags, 
baskets  and  household  goods,  all  bent  on  securing  work 
in  the  hop  fields. 


34      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND   AND    WALES. 

Would  you  like  to  see  how  the  hops  are  dried?  Let 
as  stop  a  minute  at  this  hop  kiln.  Smoke  is  issuing 
from  its  chimney  and  a  door  at  one  end  is  open,  so 
one  may  be  able  to  learn  how  the  hops  are  dried.  How 
dark  it  is  inside!  There  are  men  feeding  fires  with 
charcoal  and  brimstone,  and  the  air  is  heavy  with 
fumes.  It  would  soon  choke  one  in  this  place.  Let  us 
get  outside  in  the  fresh  air  again. 

In  some  fields  we  sometimes  see  four  horses  used  by 
the  ploughman  because  the  soil  is  so  heavy.  A  boy 
walks  along  beside  the  horses  to  urge  them  on,  and 
constantly  shouts  at  them.  At  one  place  a  laborer  is 
ploughing  with  bullocks,  but  we  are  told  these  are  sel- 
dom used  now.  The  steam  plow  is  used  now  as  in  the 
States,  and  the  steam  thresher  is  a  familiar  sight. 
Sometimes  these  engines  come  steaming  along  the 
roads  of  the  country  or  villages,  but  our  horses  have 
become  accustomed  to  them  and  do  not  seem  to  mind 
them. 

The  laboring  men  are  not  attractive,  and  are  rude 
both  in  manner  and  speech.  They  are  not  neat  or 
clean,  and  usually  carr}^  about  with  them  the  odor  of 
tobacco  and  beer.  Their  ordinary  clothing  is  rough, 
usually  of  corduroy,  with  straps  encircling  the  leg 
above  the  calf  to  keep  the  trousers  baggy  at  the  knee. 

But  in  spite  of  their  poverty  the  laboring  people  as 
a  rule,  are  contented  and  cheerful.  Their  wants  are 
few.  If  they  have  food  from  day  to  day  and  a  rude 
home  in  which  to  find  shelter,  they  do  not  worry  about 
the  future.  They  seldom  save  for  old  age.  If  there  is 
any  money  to  spare,  it  is  spent  on  drink.  Drunken- 
ness is  very  common  among  them. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND   AND   WALES.      35 

If  their  children  do  not  cprovide  for  them  when 
old  or  disabled,  therfe  is  always  the  poorhouse,  or,  as 
they  call  it,  the  Union  Workhouse.  This  is  the  place 
where  thousands  of  these  people  expect  to  spend  their 
last  days.  Some  of  them  are  quite  indifferent  about 
it,  but  others  have  a  great  dread  of  the  poorhouse. 
They  have  food  and  shelter,  it  is  true,  but  little  tea, 
tobacco  or  beer.  For  this  reason  they  think  it  is  a 
place  to  be  avoided. 

THE  ENGLISH  PEOPLE. 

The  English  people  are  not  so  easy  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  as  the  people  of  many  other  nations. 
They  are  not  always  agreeable  traveling  companions 
and  do  not  talk  much  to  those  they  do  not  know.  But 
in  their  own  homes  we  find  them  to  be  the  most  de- 
lightful people  we  have  met  in  all  our  journeys. 

The  better  class  of  English  people  are  the  most  in- 
telligent and  refined  of  any  nation.  This  is  not  true, 
though,  of  the  middle  and  lower  classes.  But  most  of  the 
English  are  honest,  truthful,  peaceable  and  law-abiding. 
They  are  a  religious  people  and  devoted  to  their 
church.  The  Episcopal  Church  is  the  established 
church  of  England.  On  Sunday  all  the  shops,  stores, 
and  places  of  business  and  amusement  are  closed.  The 
streets  on  this  day  are  almost  deserted. 

The  English  are  fond  of  outdoor  exercise  and  open- 
air  sports  and  games.  Perhaps  it  is  due  to  their  habit 
of  exercising  so  much  in  the  open  air  that  they  have 
such  good  health  and  fine  figures.  Where  a  family  is 
not  well-to-do,  and  it  is  necessary  for  the  men  to  live 
close  to  their  work  tin  the  cities,  outings  at  the  seaside 


36        A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND  AND  WALES* 

or  in  the  country  are  provided  and  planned  for  as  care- 
fully as  food  and  clothes. 

The    country    people    know    little    of    the  cities ; 
most  of  them  live  out  their  lives  in  or  near  the  vil- 


KING  EDWARD  VII  AND  FAMILY. 


lages  where  they  were  born.  They  never  go  farther 
than  a  few  miles  from  their  home,  and  cling  to  the 
ways  and  customs  of  their  forefathers. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       37 

ENGLISH   CHILDREN. 

There  are  no  children  in  the  world  so  carefully  educa- 
ted and  cared  for  as  the  English  children.  In  some  ways 
we  find  their  home  and  school  life  much  like  our  own; 
in  other  ways  quite  different.  The  English  children 
are  not  allowed  to  do  as  they  like,  as  are  many  Ameri- 
can children.  They  are  respectful  and  obedient  to 
their  parents  and  teachers,  and  do  not  expect  to  have 
their  own  way. 

During  their  baby  days  they  are  kept  in  the  nursery 
in  charge  of  a  nurse.  They  are  not  allowed  to  romp 
and  run  about  the  whole  house,  and  do  not  take  their 
meals  with  the  older  members  of  the  family,  but  with 
the  nurse  or  governess  in  the  nursery.  Their  table  is 
provided  with  good,  plain  food,  but  with  none  of  the 
luxuries,  not  even  where  the  family  is  very  wealthy. 
Until  the  boys  are  sent  away  to  boarding  school,  and 
the  girls  are  big  girls,  they  have  only  this  plain  food. 
They  have  their  daily  cold  bath  and  out-of-doors  exer- 
cise and  games,  under  the  watchful  care  of  a  nurse  or 
governess. 

Study  lasts  but  a  few  hours  each  day,but  their  lessons 
are  not  all  from  books.  The  nurse  and  the  governess 
must  see  that  correct  habits  are  formed  and  give  les- 
sons in  manners  and  deportment.  The  boys  remain 
with  the  governess  until  the  age  of  eight  or  ten,  and 
are  then  sent  to  a  boarding  school  or  day  school.  The 
girls  remain  with  the  governess  until  they  are  seven- 
teen, or  attend  a  private  day  school  and  receive  les- 
sons from  tutors  or  masters. 

These  children  see  very  little  of  other  children,  and 
are  seldom  allowed  to  play  with  them.  The  governess 


38       A  LITTLE  JOURNEY    TO  ENGLAND   AND   WALES. 

is  their  constant  companion.  She  chooses  their  read- 
ing and  accompanies  them  in  their  out-of-door  walks 
and  games. 

But  there  are  many  children  who  are  not  so  well 
cared  for.     There  are  thousands  of  children  in  Great 


A  LABORER'S  FAMILY. 

Britain  who  must  work  for  their  living,  in  mines  or  in 
factories,  or  in  the  streets  or  fields.  They  have  few 
holidays  or  games,  no  toys  or  books,  and  the  poorest 
and  coarsest  of  food. 

Others   have   much    to  do    at  home,  because  the 
mother  as  well  as  the  father  must  work  to  help  sup- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       39 

port  the  family.  The  little  girls  in  these  poor  families 
learn  early  '  o  mind  the  baby,  wash,  mend,  cook,  go  to 
market  and  care  for  the  home.  These  children  attend 
the  board  schools,  and  have  lessons  in  housekeeping. 

The  best  places  to  see  the  English  children  are  the 
parks.  The  paths  and  benches,  the  shady  nooks  and 
grass  are  home  to  them.  They  are  there  early  and 
late.  Most  of  them  are  with  nurses  and  governesses, 
mothers  or  older  sisters.  Some  walk  primly  up  and 
down  the  walks;  others  romp  and' visit  to  their  hearts' 
content. 

The  parks  are  the  only  playgrounds  that  some  of 
these  children  possess. 

Their  homes  are  smalL  Sometimes  the  kitchen  is 
the  only  living  room,  and  if  the  children  stay  indoors 
they  are  in  the  way.  So  they  come  to  the  parks. 
Many  of  them  go  without  hats  or  bonnets,  but  none 
go  barefoot.  Some  of  the  lassies  wear  white  bonnets 
with  frills  about  their  faces  and  remind  us  of  daisies. 
But  neither  boys  nor  girls  care  much  for  a  covering  for 
the  head  or  face,  for  the  sun  does  not  scorch  the  face 
as  in  America. 

The  summer  dress  of  a  child  in  skirts  has  no  sleeves, 
and  on  a  chilly  day  the  arms  are  very  apt  to  look  red 
or  purple.  The  knees  are  also  bare,  for  the  stockings 
come  up  only  a  couple  of  inches  above  the  shoe  tops. 
Rubbers  are  seldom  worn,  as  their  shoes  have  very 
thick  soles.  What  clumsy  shoes!  Great  heavy  affairs, 
with  the  bottoms  all  studded  over  with  big  projecting 
nails.  But  they  wear  well  and  keep  the  feet  dry. 

The  boys  and  girls  do  not  play  their  games  together^ 
except  when  very  young.  The  boys  seem  to  like  the 


40      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY    TO  ENGLAND    AND   WALES. 

rougher,  more  violent  games  and  the  girls  the  quiet 
ones.  But  neither  boys  nor  girls  are  quarrelsome  while 
at  their  play. 

Cricket  is  the  national  and  favorite  game  of  the 
English  boy,  just  as  baseball  is  with  the  boys  of  the 
States.  It  is  the  ambition  of  every  English  boy  to 
become  a  clever  cricketer,  and  if  allowed  he  will  keep 
at  it  all  day.  This  game  is  played  in  the  streets,  the 
fields,  parks  or  wherever  room  can  be  found. 

The  girls  are  as  fond  of  their  skipping  ropes  as  the 
boys  are  of  cricket.  They  play  many  ring  games,  such 
as  drop-the-hankerchief,  thump-back,  and  orange-and- 
lemon.  In  this  last  the  girls  form  in  two  long  oppos- 
ing lines  and  have  a  tug  of  war. 

The  holidays  are  Christmas,  May-day,  and  the  Fifth 
of  November.  May-day  means  more  to  the  children 
of  the  villages  than  to  those  in  London,  however.  In 
the  villages  groups  or  processions  of  children  parade 
the  streets,  carrying  sticks  with  flowers  tied  on  the 
ends.  They  sing  songs  before  the  houses  and  in  return 
receive  pennies  from  the  listeners. 

The  money  received  is  spent  for  candy  or  cakes.  In 
the  villages,  out-side  of  London,  fetes  are  held,  and  at 
these  fairs  are  merry-go-rounds,  shooting  galleries, 
swings  and  wandering  gypsies,  and  vendors  with  all 
kinds  of  wonderful  things  to  sell. 

The  fifth  of  November  is  "Guy  Fawkes  Day."  This 
is  the  anniversary  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot.  Guy 
Fawkes  and  some  of  his  friends  meant  to  blow  up  the 
king  and  parliament.  But  the  plot  was  discovered 
and  the  king  and  members  of  parliament  saved  from 
a  terrible  death.  For  a  time  the  fifth  of  November 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND    AND   WALES.      41 

was  observed  by  thanksgiving  services  in  the  church, 
but  the  day  is  now  celebrated  by  children  more  than 
grown  people. 

In  some  towns  the  day  is  celebrated  by  proces- 
sions, bonfires  and  sham  battles. 

Christmas  is  celebrated  in  much  the  same  way  as  in 
our  own  country.  The  churches  are  made  bright  with 
evergreens  and  holly  berries;  the  Christmas  tree  is  hung 
with  presents  in  the  schoolroom  of  the  home;  Christ- 
mas carols  are  sung. 

ENGLAND  TO-DAY. 

England  does  not  seem  a  very  important  country 
when  one  looks  at  the  map  and  compares  it  with 
other  countries.  It  is  but  400  miles  long,  and  360 
miles  wide;  yet  it  is  the  richest  kingdom  in  the  world. 

Scotland  and  Ireland  were  once  separate  kingdoms, 
but  are  now  united  to  England  and  Wales  under  the 
title  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.  This  is  the  home  country  of  the  British 
Empire,  but  is  only  a  small  part  of  it. 

Great  Britain  is  a  great  mother  country.  It  has  so 
many  children  that  all  cannot  be  fed  and  cared  for  at 
home.  Many  of  them  therefore  go  to  other  coun- 
tries, where  colonies  are  formed.  The  population  of 
the  United  Kingdom  is  40,000,000,  and  of  England 
and  Wales  alone,  32,525,716.  So  you  see  it  is  nec- 
essary for  some  of  these  people  to  go  elsewhere  for 
homes.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  corner  of  the  earth 
where  the  British  have  not  settled. 

The  British  colonies  are  protected  by  Great  Britain, 
and  some  of  them  have  become  parts  of  the  British 


42      A  LITTLE   JOURNEY    TO  ENGLAND    AND   WALES. 

Empire.  This  now  extends  over  more  than  11,000,- 
000  square  miles,  and  numbers  400.000,000  people. 
The  principal  colonial  possessions  are  Gibraltar,  Heli- 
goland, the  Channel  Islands,  Malta  and  Cypress  in  Eu- 
rope. In  North  America  are  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
and  the  West  India  Islands.  In  South  America  are 
British  Guiana  and  the  Falkland  Islands.  There  are 
Australia,  New  Zealand  and  the  Fiji  Islands,  and  in 
Africa  are  the  Gold  Coast,  Sierra  Leone,  Gambia,  St. 
Helena,  Ascension,  the  Cape  Colony,  Natal,  the  British 
South  Africa  and  Mauritius.  In  Asia  are  India, 
Hong  Kong,  British  Burmah,  Ceylon,  Labuan,  Aden, 
the  Straits  Settlement,  and  Andaman  and  Nicobar 
Islands. 

Australia  and  Cape  Colony  are  self-governing  colon- 
ies, and  others  are  a  part  of  the  British  Empire.  But 
though  widely  separated  from  the  mother  country  by 
lands  and  seas,  these  colonies  and  distant  parts  of  the 
Empire  are  united  by  telegraph.  There  are  lines 
reaching  to  India  and  to  Australia,  as  well  as  to 
America. 

The  army  of  England  consists  of  over  a  million  men, 
and  as  English  soldiers  are  said  to  be  among  the  best 
and  bravest  in  the  world,  England  is  well  able  to 
defend  herself.  All  of  these  men  are  not  stationed 
in  England,  but  in  different  parts  of  the  Empire. 
Some  are  at  home,  others  in  the  colonies,  and  in  India. 

England  has  the  largest  and  strongest  navy  in  the 
world.  She  needs  many  war  ships,  because  her  pos- 
sessions are  scattered  through  so  many  parts  of  the 
earth. 

If  we  could  but  visit  each  of  these  British  posses- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND   AND   WALES.      43 

sions  or  colonies,  what  wonderful  things  might  we  not 
see!  But  we  will  content  ourselves  for  the  present 
year  with  a  short  visit  in  England  and  Wales,  and  a 
month  each  in  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

NORTHERN  ENGLAND. 

We  have  seen  England's  two  most  important  cities, 
its  favorite  summer  resorts,  and  something  of  the  life 
of  the  people  in  both  city  and  country.  Now  let  us 
visit  some  of  the  places  made  famous  by  English  his- 
tory or  literature.  We  will  begin  at  the  far  north  and 
travel  southward,  stopping  wherever  there  is  a  place 
of  especial  interest  or  beauty. 

We  find  England  on  the  north  separated  from  Scot- 
land by  the  Cheviot  Hills.  South  of  the  hills  there 
are  high,  dreary,  wild  moorlands,  with  little  vegeta- 
tion excepting  grass  and  heather,  which  the  Scotch 
people  love  so  much.  Farther  south  are  plains  and 
valleys,  quarries  and  mines  of  coal  and  iron.  These 
mining  districts  are  manufacturing  centers,  and  here 
are  many  of  England's  largest  and  busiest  cities. 

Northumberland  is  a  busy  mining  district,  whose 
chief  city  is  Newcastle.  Look  at  the  mouth  of  the 
River  Tyne.  What  a  fine  harbor!  See  the  hundreds 
of  vessels  coming  and  going.  Those  from  foreign 
lands  are  laden  with  provisions.  Those  going  out  are 
carrying  coal.  The  castle,  from  which  the  city  was 
named,  still  stands,  and  part  of  it  is  used  for  a  museum 
for  the  war  relics  found  in  the  neighborhood.  South 
of  this  county  lies  Durham,  another  county  rich  in 
coal. 

Near  the    coast  of   this  part  of  England,  are  the 


44      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND    AND  WALES. 

Fame  Islands.  On  one  of  these  islands  is  a  light- 
house, and  it  was  here  that  Grace  Darling  lived.  Her 
father  was  the  light-house  keeper.  You  have  heard 


A  MARKET  PLACE. 


of  this  brave  girl  who  saved  the  lives  of  so  many  ship- 
wrecked soldiers,  I  am  sure.  When  she  died  many  of 
the  leading  men  of  England  followed  her  to  the  grave. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND   AND  WALES.      45 

A  monument  was  raised  to  her  memory,  too,  and  she 
will  always  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  bravest 
women  in  England. 

Not  far  away  is  another  island  called"  Holy  Isle." 
It  was  used  as  a  refuge  by  persecuted  priests  in  olden 
times.  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  told  us  about  it  in  a 
poem  called ' i  Marmion." 

The  counties  of  Westmoreland  and  Cumberland,  in 
the  Northwestern  part  of  England,  are  especially  noted 
for  their  beautiful  lakes  and  mountains.  The  largest 
lake,  Windermere,  does  not  seem  very  large  to  us.  It 
is  but  little  over  ten  miles  long,  and  the  highest  moun- 
tain, Scafell,  is  less  than  3,000  feet  in  height,  yet  the 
country  is  attractive  to  every  traveler. 

One  reason  for  this  is  that  three  of  England's  most 
celebrated  poets  made  this  lake  country  their  home, 
and  the  subject  of  many  of  their  poems.  These  men 
were  Wordsworth,  Coleridge  and  Southey.  Words- 
worth lived  at  Rydal,  and  at  Grasmere  where  he  is 
buried.  Almost  his  entire  life  of  eighty  years  was 
passed  in  this  lovely  lake  county,  and  many  of 
his  poems  have  been  written  about  it.  He  believed 
that  too  much  had  been  written  of  heroes  and  knights, 
and  so  he  wrote  of  the  simple,  honest  people  among 
whom  he  lived,  and  the  beautiful  things  in  nature— 
the  flowers,  fields,  forests,  the  brooks  and  birds. 

East  of  Westmoreland,  and  south  of  Durham,  lies 
Yorkshire,  one  of  the  largest  counties  of  England. 
Along  the  coast  are  quaint  little  fishing  villages  and 
towns  used  as  health  resorts  by  the  weary  workers  in 
the  manufacturing  districts  to  the  southwest.  The 
cliffs  are  of  chalk,  which  have  been  worn  into  many 
queer  forms  by  the  waves. 


46      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND    AND  WALES. 

In  this  county  are  the  York  Wolds,  beneath  which 
lies  a  peculiar  kind  of  stone.  It  is  soft  and  easily 
worked  with  the  chisel  when  it  is  first  quarried,  but 
with  exposure  to  the  air  grows  hard  and  flinty. 


YORK  CATHEDRAL. 


In  the  center  of  Yorkshire  we  find  the  old  city  of 
York,  and  York  Cathedral,  which  is  one  of  the  grand- 
est gothic  buildings  in  the  world.  England  is  noted 
for  its  beautiful  cathedrals,  but  it  has  only  two  arch- 
bishopries — York  and  Canterbury. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND    AND  WALES.      47 

The  cathedral  rises  from  a  lovely  landscape.  The 
country  round  about  is  dotted  with  castles  and  mon- 
asteries. The  building  has  a  grand  front  and  three 
stately  towers.  The  choir  and  ceilings  are  carved 
wood,  and  its  windows  are  richly  stained  glass.  It  has 
an  east  window,  which  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the 
world. 

There  are  many  other  cathedrals  of  which  we  have 
read — Ely,  considered  the  most  beautiful,  and  Salis- 
bury, which  has  the  loftiest  spire  in  all  England;  and 
Lincoln  and  Exeter.  How  we  wish  we  might  see  each, 
but  time  will  not  permit. 

In  the  western  part  of  Yorkshire  are  wild,  bleak, 
swampy  moorlands.  The  hills  are  high  and  in  some 
places  barren,  in  others  covered  with  heather,  gorse 
and  moss.  There  are  few  houses  or  signs  of  life  of  any 
kind.  Even  the  birds  seem  to  have  forsaken  the  place. 

South  of  Yorkshire  the  land  along  the  coast  is  low, 
flat  and  marshy.  It  is  known  as  the  fen  district.  It 
is  not  a  pleasant  country  in  which  to  travel,  and  we 
will  not  stop  there. 

MANUFACTURING  CITIES. 

England  is  a  land  of  large  towns  and  great  manu- 
factories. So  large  is  its  population  that  it  is  said  the 
crops  raised  on  its  farms  each  year  would  not  feed  the 
inhabitants  three  months.  What  do  the  people  do 
then  for  their  food?  They  must  import  it  from  other 
countries,  and  in  order  to  give  employment  to  the  peo- 
ple that  will  provide  them  with  the  means  to  buy  food 
and  other  necessities  England  has  become  a  manufac- 
turing nation.  If  the  people  lack  material  they  send 


48      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND    AND  WALES. 

out  ships  to  the  countries  that  produce  it  and  buy  it. 
They  carry  it  back  to  England,  make  it  up  into  use- 
ful articles  and  sell  them  back  to  the  countries  that 
furnished  the  raw  material. 

A  few  hours'  ride  southward  from  the  Lake  District 
brings  us  to  a  group  of  manufacturing  towns.  We 
can  not  visit  all,  but  will  find  out  what  each  is  cele- 
brated for  and  visit  as  many  as  we  can.  There  are 
Leeds  and  Bradford,  noted  for  the  manufacture  of 
woolen  goods.  Much  of  the  broadcloth  we  use  in  the 
States  may  come  from  the  towns  in  the  west  of  York- 
shire. Leeds  is  also  noted  for  porcelain  china;  Sheffield 
for  cutlery;  Birmingham  for  plated  ware ;  Manchester, 
Wigan,  and  Preston  for  cotton. 

Sheffield  is  set  in  the  midst  of  this  moorland  coun- 
try. About  it  are  hills  and  valleys,  and  beautiful 
streams,  yet  the  city  itself  is  one  of  the  ugliest  places 
in  the  world.  The  streets  are  narrow  and  dirty.  The 
air  is  filled  with  steam  and  smoke,  and  the  rattle  and 
thump  of  machinery  fill  one's  ears  on  every  hand. 

Yet  this  disagreeable  town  contributes  much  to  the 
comfort  of  the  people  everywhere.  It  sends  out  rails 
with  which  to  build  our  railroads,  it  makes  the  plates 
which  encase  our  steamers,  it  makes  the  scythes  with 
which  we  cut  our  grain,  the  knives  and  forks  and  spoons 
on  our  tables,  and  perhaps  the  scissors  and  pocket 
knives  that  we  have  with  us. 

We  wish  to  see  cotton  spinning  and  calico  printing, 
and  so  visit  Manchester,  for  this  city  alone  has  a  hun- 
dred cotton  mills.  It  is  the  third  city  in  size  in  England, 
having  a  population  of  543,969.  It  is  connected  with 
Liverpool  by  a  huge  canal,  which  really  makes  it  a  sea- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND  AND    WALES.       49 

port  town.  This  canal  is  thirty-six  miles  long,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  wide  and  twenty  feet  deep. 
Ships  laden  with  cotton  from  our  own  shores,  come 
through  this  canal  and  unload  their  cargoes  almost  at 
the  doors  of  Manchester's  great  mills. 


A  MARKET  WOMAN. 


The  most  interesting  place  in  the  city  is  the  Ex- 
change, an  immense  building  where  the  buyers  and 
sellers  of  cotton  meet  on  certain  days.  Crowds  of  peo- 
ple from  many  parts  of  the  country  are  present  on  these 
market  days  and  the  Exchange  is  a  lively  scene. 

North  of  Manchester  is  the  city  of  Preston,  another 
cotton  manufacturing  town.  It  was  at  this  place  that 


50      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND  AND    WALES. 

the    inventor  of  the    spinning- jinny,    Richard    Ark- 
wright,  was  born. 

North  of  Birmingham  we  enter  a  belt  of  England 
called  the  Black  Country,  because  there  is  so  much 
black  smoke  and  dust  from  the  great  manufacture  of 


KENILWORTH  CASTLE. 

iron.  Tall  chimneys  and  furnaces  are  everywhere, 
with  their  clouds  of  smoke  and  flames.  At  night  it 
seems  as  if  we  were  in  the  midst  of  a  number  of  vol- 
canoes. The  country  is  covered  with  a  network  of 
railways  and  mines,  and  the  roar  and  rumble  of  ma- 
chinery is  heard  in  every  busy  town. 

Birmingham  is  the  fourth  city  of  England  in   size, 
containing  522,182  inhabitants.    It  is  one  of  the  bus- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY    TO  ENGLAND  AND   WALES.       51 

iest  cities  in  the  world.  Almost  every  thing  Tender  the 
sun  is  manufactured  here;  and  it  is  sometimes  called 
the  toyshop  of  Europe.  The  Gillot  pen  we  use  is 
made  here,  and  guns,  nails,  screws,  pins,  watch  chains, 
jewelry  of  all 'kinds,  pencil  cases,  buttons,  glass  beads, 
sewing  machines,  bicycles,  tools  of  many  kinds  and 
almost  every  kind  of  metallic  ware. 

Birmingham  has  a  fine  town  hall  that  contains  a 
magnificent  pipe  organ.  Every  third  year  a  grand 
musical  festival  is  held,  and  musical  people  from  all 
over  England  attend  the  concerts. 

Had  we  but  time  we  would  visit  Witney,  where 
blankets  are  made;  Kidderminster,  to  see  carpets  wov- 
en; Spitalfields  and  Macclesfield,  for  silks;  Barnsby  for 
linen,  Coventry  for  watches  and  ribbons,  Hamilton  for 
lace,  and  Nottingham  for  lace,  stockings,  boots  and 

shoes. 

THE  GARDEN  OF  ENGLAND. 

We  are  now  in  the  great  county  of  Warwickshire, 
sometimes  called  the  Garden  of  England.  It  is  a 
quiet,  peaceful  farm  country,  with  fertile  fields,  perfect 
roads  and  cosy  vine-covered  cottage  homes.  The 
town  of  Kenilworth  itself  interests  us  little.  It  is  the 
castle,  a  mile  beyond,  we  wish  to  see. 

The  ruins  of  this  castle  are  probably  the  grandest 
in  England.  This  stately  old  building  covers  several 
acres,  and  is  enclosed  by  lofty  walls  fifteen  feet  thick. 
These  walls  are  strengthened  by  massive  crumbling 
towers,  now  partly  covered  with  ivy.  One  part  is 
called  the  Normon  Keep,  and  was  at  one  time'three  or 
four  stories  high.  There  are  broken  arches,  uncased 
windows,  a  great  banquet  hall  with  fallen  stones, 


52        A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 

and  great  kitchens  where  the  feasts  were  prepared  for 
the  noble  occupants  and  their  guests. 

The  castle  is  very  old,  but  some  parts  more  so  than 
others.  As  the  place  passed  from  one  owner  to  an- 
other, additions  were  made. 


WARWICK  CASTLE. 

This  castle  was  a  favorite  resort  of  kings  and  queens 
in  the  olden  times.  During  the  reign  of  Edward  I,  a 
grand  tournament  was  held  here,  in  which  a  hundred 
knights,  with  their  ladies,  were  in  attendance.  Sir 
Walter  Scott  has  told  us  all  about  it  in  his  story  of 
Kenilworth. 

The  situation  of  the  castle  adds  much  to  its  beauty. 
It  is  elevated  above  the  surrounding  country,  andsur- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND   AND   WALES.       53 

rounded  with  sloping  meadows,  shady  groves  and 
pasture  lands. 

Five  miles  from  Kenilworth,  on  the  bank  of  the 
Avon  River,  is  another  famous  place,  Warwick  castle. 
From  the  bridge  of  the  river  we  have  a  fine  view  of 
the  castle.  It  is  a  fine  old  place,  containing  relics  of 
the  past  which  are  of  interest  to  every  student  of 
English  history.  Some  of  these  relics  are  kept  in  a 
room  in  the  gateway.  Among  others  are  the  shield, 
sword,  breast-plate  and  helmet  of  the  former  owner, 
Guy  of  Warwick. 

In  some  of  the  rooms  are  paintings,  busts,  vases 
and  rare  old  pieces  of  furniture  that  we  should  like  to 
examine  carefully,  but  the  guide  rushes  us  through 
and  leads  us  at  last  to  Guy's  Tower  for  a  view  of  the 
surrounding  neighborhood. 

STRATFORD. 

About  eight  miles  away  is  the  old  town  of  Stratford, 
sacred  to  the  memory  of  England's  greatest  poet, 
William  Shakespeare.  Stratford-on-Avon  is  a  sleepy 
little  place,  with  pleasant  and  quaint  old  houses,  with 
flowers  on  the  window-sills  or  porches,  and  vines  and 
climbing  roses  over  the  walls. 

By  the  river  bank  stands  the  church  where  the  poet 
is  buried.  It  is  in  a  grove  of  ancient  elms,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  graves  of  those  who  died  three 
hundred  years  ago.  It  is  a  beautiful  little  building, 
and  Shakespeare  loved  it.  He  asked  to  be  buried  be- 
neath its  chapel,  and  his  wish  was  respected.  In  the 
floor  of  the  chancel  we  find  the  plain  marble  slab  that 
marks  his  resting  place.  Upon  the  slab  are  cut  these 
words : 


54      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND    AND  WALES. 

1 1  Good  friend,  for  Jesus  sake  f orbeare, 
To  digg  the  dust  enclosed  heare; 
Blest  be  he  that  spares  these  stones, 
And  cursed  be  he  that  moves  my  bones." 

Above  this  tablet  in  a  niche  in  the  wall  of  the  chan- 
cel is  a  marble  bust  of  the  poet,  which  is  thought  to 
have  been  a  likeness.  Farther  down  the  river  bank 
stands  Shakespeare  Memorial  Theatre  and  Library, 
which  was  opened  with  a  grand  festival  on  the  315th 
anniversary  of  the  poet's  birth,  April  23,  1879. 

The  town  has  also  a  beautiful  memorial  drinking 
fountain,  which  was  given  by  an  American,  George  W. 
Childs. 

The  house  where  the  poet  was  born  is  in  the  center 
of  the  town,  and  not  far  from  the  church.  It  is  a  low 
wooden  house,  built  in  the  old  English  fashion,  with 
oak  timbers  filled  in  with  plaster  or  clay.  Inside  the 
house  the  timbers  are  black  with  age,  and  the  rough 
walls  are  covered  with  the  names  of  visitors.  Among 
these  are  the  names  of  Dickens  and  Tennyson. 

Some  of  the  rooms  on  the  second  floor  are  used  as  a 
museum,  where  are  gathered  a  few  Shakespeare  relics. 
His  portrait  is  shown,  and  his  chair  and  desk  and  a 
few  other  articles.  The  house  is  cared  for  by  a  keep- 
er, who  was  placed  in  charge  by  the  English  govern- 
ment. 

Nowhere  in  England  is  the  country  so  lovely  as 
that  part  along  the  Thames,  through  which  we  are 
now  going.  Every  vine-clad  cottage  is  a  picture,  every 
hedge  and  lane  a  thing  of  beauty. 

We  are  almost  at  Oxford.  What  grand  old  build- 
ings are  these  looming  up  before  us?  They  are  col- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY    TO    ENGLAND  AND    WALES.       55 

leges,  for  Oxford  is  a  college  town.  Young  men  come 
here  to  live  after  they  have  left  school  and  stay  for 
three  or  four  years  to  finish  their  education. 

Oxford  University   consists   of  a  large  number   of 
separate    colleges    united    under  one    head.      There 


OXFORD,  ENGLAND. 

are  twenty-three  of  these  independent  colleges.  The 
president  of  this  University  is  always  a  nobleman,  who 
holds  this  position  for  life.  Lectures  are  given  by  pro- 
fessors, as  in  our  own  colleges,  but  many  of  the  stu- 
dents are  assisted  in  their  studies  by  private  tutors. 
There  are  many  vacations  in  college  life,  but  studies 
often  go  on  just  the  same  away  from  college,  with  the 
aid  of  these  tutors. 


56      A   LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND   AND  WALES. 

We  can  see  many  of  the  students  walking  about 
with  queer-looking  caps  on  their  heads  and  little  black 
gowns  over  their  shoulders.  Let  us  enter  the  gate  and 
walk  about  the  gardens  a  while. 

The  buildings  are  some  of  them  over  600  years  old, 
and  they  look  it.  The  stone  shows  the  effect  of  the 
weather.  But  inside,  the  rooms  are  very  comfortable. 
There  are  easy  chairs  and  sofas,  and  flowers  in  the  win- 
dows. In  the  dining  room  are  long  tables,  where  all 
the  men  dine.  The  walls  have  many  pictures. 

Where  are  the  men?  Some  of  them  are  under  the 
trees  smoking  and  drinking.  Others  are  playing  lawn 
tennis  and  cricket,  and  others  are  practicing  races  on  the 
river.  This  is  the  chapel  where  prayers  are  said  every 
night  and  morning.  The  students  must  attend  whether 
they  wish  to  or  not,  and  a  porter  stands  at  the  door 
before  services  to  check  their  names  off,  as  they  enter. 

Who  are  those  men  dressed  in  white  flannels?  They 
have  just  come  from  the  station  in  large  wagonettes 
drawn  by  four  horses.  They  are  cricketers  come  to 
the  college  grounds  to  play  a  match. 

Now  let  us  go  down  to  the  river  to  see  the  college 
races.  -How  gay  the  river  is!  See  the  yachts  cruising 
up  and  down  with  their  white  sails  flying.  There  are 
flat-bottomed  boats  too,  called  punts.  In  them  are 
men  lying  at  full  length  on  cushions,  and  with  books 
in  their  hands.  How  comfortable  they  look!  These 
punts  are  pushed  along  by  a  man  with  a  pole  in  his 
hand. 

There  are  barges  by  the  side  of  the  river,  too.  They 
belong  to  the  colleges,  and  inside  them  are  easy  chairs 
and  couches  and  books.  What  a  pleasant  place  to 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND    AND   WALES.       57 

rest!  There  are  big  boats  called  tubs,  that  cannot 
upset  easily,  and  slim  boats  shooting  rapidly  through 
the  water.  There  are  nine  men  in  each  of  the  boats, 
called  the  College  Eights.  They  are  going  to  race. 
There  is  a  crowd  of  college  men  on  the  bank  on  their 
way  up  the  river,  too.  They  are  going  to  watch  the  races. 

A  gun  is  fired;  that  is  the  signal,  and  the  boats  are 
off.  The  men  on  the  bank  cheer  the  men  of  their  own 
college  crew,  and  urge  them  on  to  do  their  best.  The 
Englishmen  at  this  college  spend  a  great  deal  of  time 
boating  and  at  other  out-of-door  sports,  but  they  do 
much  studying,  also.  There  are  examinations  to  pass, 
and  they  are  anxious  to  carry  off  honors.  If  a  stu- 
dent fails  a  certain  number  of  times  he  cannot  com- 
pete for  honors  again. 

Many  of  the  great  men  of  England  have  been  edu- 
cated in  this  university,  and  England  is  very  proud  of 
the  place.  Oxford  is  thought  by  many  people  to  be 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  little  cities  in  the  world.  It 
has  both  old-fashioned  and  modern  buildings,  stately 
halls  and  libraries,  chapels  with;  spires  and  pinnacles 
like  cathedrals,  ivy-covered  walk.  and.  towers,  lovely 
garden  lawns  and  walks  shaded  by  grand  old  trees. 

Cambridge  is  another  university  town,  with  almost 
as  many  colleges  as  Oxford,  which  are  quite  as  noted. 

CANTERBURY. 

To  see  the  most  interesting  of  all  England's  cathe- 
drals, we  must  go  to  the  county  of  Kent  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  England.  In  the  old  city  of  Canter- 
bury, on  the  site  occupied  hundreds  of  years  ago  by 
the  first  church,  now  stands  a  magnificent  cathedral. 


58       A  LITTLE  JOURNEY    TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

Cathedral  means  a  church  built  in  the  form  of  a  Greek 
or  Latin  cross,  and  containing  a  bishop's  seat  or 
throne. 

The  arch-bishop  of  Canterbury  is  the  head  of  the 
English  church,  and  ranks  next  to  royalty.  He  is  the 
first  peer  of  the  land,  and  he  alone  has  authority 
to  crown  the  monarchs  of  England,  though  the 
ceremony  is  performed  in  Westminster  Abbey  in 
London.  His  London  residence  is  Lambeth  Palace 
on  the  Thames,  not  far  from  the  Parliament  House. 


CANTERBURY. 

SOUTHERN  ENGLAND. 

In  the  southern  part  of  England  is  the  great 
Plain  of  Salisbury,  with  pleasant,  prosperous  farms 
and  fertile  fields.  Long  years  ago  this  plain  was  the 
scene  of  many  a  fierce  battle  between  the  Britains  and 
their  enemies,  and  hosts  of  warriors  lie  buried  here. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY    TO    ENGLAND    AND  WALES.       50 


CANTERBURY  CATHEDRAL. 


At  Stonehenge  we  find  the  ruins  of  an  open  temple, 
built  by  the  ancient  Britons  for  use  in  Druid  worship. 
It  consists  at  present  of  three  concentric  circles  of 
huge  granite  boulders.  Some  of  these  are  twenty  feet 
high,  and  weigh  from  twelve  to  seventy  tons.  These 
were  connected  by  enormous  flat  stones,  too  large  to 
have  been  lifted  by  human  hands.  It  seems  as  if 
these  ancient  people  must  have  had  machinery,  but 
no  one  knows. 

South  of  the  Island  of  Wight,  across  the  channel 
and  near  the  coast  of  France,  lies  a  group  of  islands 
called  the  Channel  Islands.  The  largest  of  these  are 
the  Guersey,  Jersey,  Alderney  and  Sark.  Where  have 
you  heard  these  names  before?  They  sound  very 
familiar.  Who  has  not  heard  of  Jersey  and  Alderney 
cows? 


60      A    LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

These  islands  are  noted  for  their  fine  cattle,  choice 
fruits  and  flowers,  for  their  delightful  winter  climate 
and  picturesque  scenery. 

England's  two  great  naval  ports  are  Portsmouth 
and  Plymouth.  In  Portsmouth  harbor  1,000  ships 
can  be  at  anchor  at  the  same  time.  It  is  a  strongly 


LYN MOUTH  HARBOR. 

fortified  town,  and  the  principal  naval  station  of  Eng- 
land. Its  streets  are  full  of  soldiers,  and  in  its  har- 
bors are  many  modern  warships. 

The  dress  of  the  English  soldiers  at  the  forts  seems 
rather  odd  to  us.  They  wear  little  caps  stuck  on  the 
side  of  the  head,  and  their  clothes  are  very  tight. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND    AND    WALESA      61 

The  port  of  Plymouth  is  also  on  the  southern  coast 
of  England.  It  was  from  this  harbor  that  the  May- 
flower started  to  make  its  journey  to  America.  It 
was  for  this  town  that  the  first  Plymouth  in  the 
States  was  named.  There  is  little  to  see  but  the 
arsenals,  dockyards,  warships  and  forts. 

Fourteen  miles  to  the  south  is  the  Eddystone  light- 
house, whose  light  can  be  seen  many  miles  out  at  sea. 

CORNWALL. 

Cornwall  is  a  little  county  in  the  western  end  of 
England,  including  Land's  End.  It  is  a  bleak,  bare, 
hilly  country,  with  a  wild,  rugged  coast.  But  the 
riches  of  the  country  lie  underground,  for  Cornwall 
furnishes  nine-tenths  of  all  the  tin  and  one-half  of  all 
the  copper  produced  by  the  whole  British  Isles.  It  is 
a  splendid  place  to  collect  specimens  of  ores,  for  one 
can  find  all  sorts  of  rocks,  such  as  granite,  porphyry, 
horneblend,  mica-slate,  serpentine,  as  well  as  tin  and 
copper. 

The  best  tin  mines  are  on  the  south  side  of  Corn- 
wall, and  we  can  visit  one  of  these  mines  that  is  open 
to  the  day- light,  and  see  the  men  and  horses  moving 
about  at  work.  Near  Cape  Cornwall  is  a  copper  mine 
that  extends  under  the  sea.  Veins  of  copper  run  along 
the  cliffs  into  the  sea,  and  are  hidden  in  the  water, 
but  a  tram-road  has  been  built  down  a  precipice  and 
the  mine  is  entered  by  ladders  until  below  the  sea 
level.  The  salt  water  oozes  through  the  ceiling  and 
the  ocean  roars  over  the  heads  of  the  miners  as  they 
work. 

We  notice  many  buildings  deserted  and  in  ruins,  and 


62       A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

are  told  that  some  of  the  mines  have  been  closed  because 
mining  has  ceased  to  be  profitable.  The  miners  have 
many  of  them  gone  to  America  to  the  copper  mines  in 
Colorado,  Nevada  and  Michigan. 

There  are  many  brave  arid  noble  people  among 
the  rough  fisherfolk  of  Cornwall.  Many  a  sailor  has 
been  saved  from  an  ocean  grave  by  their  kindness. 
They  often  risk  their  own  lives  to  rescue  others  from 
danger,  and  think  nothing  of  it. 

At  the  extreme  end  of  Cornwall  is  a  little  island 
called  St.  Michael's  Mount.  It  rises  straight  up  from 
the  water  to  a  height  of  two  hundred  feet.  One  «can 
reach  it  from  the  mainland  by  a  natural  rocky  cause- 
way, one-half  a  mile  long.  This  causeway  is  under 
water  except  at  low  tide,  three  hours  every  day.  On 
the  top  is  a  very  old  castle,  said  to  have  been  the  home 
of  hermits  long  ago. 

From  Land's  End  we  go  out  to  the  Scilly  Islands. 
There  are  a  great  many  of  these,  but  only  five  of  them 
are  inhabited.  The  people  who  live  here  call  them- 
selves Scillonians, 'but  other  people  call  them  "  Scilly 
Folk."  The  climate  of  the  islands  is  mild,  and  the 
rocks  enclose  many  fertile  little  valleys  which  are  used 
for  flower  farms.  Here  flowers  of  all.  kinds  are  culti- 
vated during  the  winter — jonquils,  daffodills,  crocuses, 
nacissuses — and  sent  to  London  and  other  large  cities, 
where  they  find  a  ready  market. 

How  quickly  time  flies !  Our  month  is  almost  over 
and  we  have  not  yet  seen  Wales. 


A  Little  Journey  to 
Wales 


Wales,  though  one  of  our  nearest  neighbors  across 
the  sea,  is  not  visited  by  travelers  so  often  as  other 
parts  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  people  who  have  visited 
it  have  told  us  so  little  about  the  country  that  we  are 
very  anxious  to  see  it. 

It  is  not  a  large  country,  having  but  a  fourth  the 
area  of.  the  state  of  Ohio.  Its  greatest  length  from 
north  to  south  is  only  140  miles,  while  its  width  in 
places  is  but  40  miles,  a  distance  a  railway  train  will 
cover  in  an  hour. 

Wales  is  a  very  old  country  and  will  well  repay  us 
for  the  time  we  shall  spend  journeying  through  it,  for 
it  is  most  interesting  to  both  the  student  and  the 
tourist.  Though  so  small,  and  connected  so  closely 
with  England  and  Scotland,  it  has  a  people  and  a  lan- 
guage as  different  from  those  of  the  other  portions  of 
Great  Britain  as  the  people  and  the  language  of  Mexico 
are  from  our  own. 

At  one  time  Wales  was  a  land  of  warriors.  Before 
gunpowder  was  known,  their  weapons  were  the  lance 
and  the  bow,  in  the  use  of  which  they  were  very  ex- 
pert. 

They  were  being  attacked  continually  by  the  people 
of  different  countries  who  wished  to  subdue  them,  but 
they  were  very  brave  and  always  ready  to  defend 
themselves.  Thev  did  not  thpn  have  farms  and  culti- 


64       A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND   AND    WALES. 

vate  the  land  as  now,  but  they  had  flocks  of  sheep  and 
herds  of  cattle,  which  gave  them  food. 

The  people  of  Wales  have  always  kept  much  to 
themselves,  and  have  been  very  jealous  to  preserve  the 
purity  of  their  language,  and  their  customs  of  life. 
Thus  they  have  kept  themselves  as  a  distinct  race 
from  the  English  people. 

Because  they  were  thus  able  to  defend  their  land, 
and  keep  themselves  separate  from  others,  they  were 
called  "  Welsh,"  which  means  "  strangers."  But  the 
Welsh  have  always  called  themselves  "Cymri,"  which 
is  a  word  of  their  own  language  and  means  "  native  to 
the  soil.77 

Wales  was  through  many  centuries  the  scene  of 
constant  warfare,  which  was  always  a  heroic  struggle 
to  maintain  freedom  against  the  attacks  of  different 
powerful  nations.  We  shall  find  everywhere  the  remains 
of  encampments,  fortresses,  castles  and  fortified  man- 
sions, telling  where  their  battles  were  fought  long  ago. 

Wales  is  the  south-west  portion  of  the  island  of 
Great  Britain;  it  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Irish 
Sea,  and  by  the  estuary  of  the  River  Dee;  west  by  St. 
George's  Channel;  south  by  the  Bristol  Channel,  and 
east  by  counties  of  England. 

The  estuary  of  a  river  is  its  mouth,  where  the  cur- 
rent of  the  river,  Sowing  out,  meets  and  mingles  with 
the  inflowing  tide  of  the  sea. 

CHESTER. 

Six  miles  from  the  border  line  that  separates  Wales 
from  England,  is  the  town  of  Chester.  It  is  situated 
on  the  river  Dee, — the  very  river  the  old  song  tells  us 
about. 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       65 

There  dwelt  a  miller  hale  and  bold 

'Beside  the  river  Dee; 
He  worked  and  sang  from  morn  till  night, 

No  lark  more  blithe  than  he. 

This  is  the  place  from  which  most  travellers  start  to 
visit  Wales,  and  it  is  a  very  good  place  to  come,  for  it 
is  more  like  a  Welsh  than  an  English  city.  It  has  a 


OLD  CHESTER,  WALES. 

population  of  40,000  people,  and  so  many  of  them  are 
Welsh  that  some  people  imagine  when  here  they  are 
already  in  Wales. 

The  city  is  surrounded  by  a  wall  seven  or  eight  feet 
thick,  and  on  the  top  is  a  walk  where  people  go  to 


66      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

promenade  and  get  a  view  of  the  country.  This  wall 
is  very,  very  old.  No  one  knows  just  who  tuilt  it,  but 
it  is  thought  to  have  been  built  by  the  Romans  who 
invaded  England  centuries  ago.  What  wonderful 
workers  and  warriors  those  old  Romans  were !  But 
they  found  their  match  when  they  met  the  sturdy 
Welshmen,  and  they  probably  felt  the  need  of  stone 
walls  to  protect  them  from  the  attacks  of  these 
patriots. 

What  queer  old  houses!  And  the  sidewalks!  There 
are  none  like  them  in  the  world.  They  are  built  on 
the  roofs  of  the  houses,  and  covered  with  galleries  to 
protect  the  promenaders  from  the  rain.  The  only  in- 
convenient thing  about  these  walks  is  that  one  has  to 
go  down  and  up  again  at  each  cross  street. 

Leaving  Chester  we  cross  the  river  and  follow  its 
banks  for  a  time.  When  the  tide  is  in  it  looks  like  a 
very  noble  river,  but  when  the  tide  is  out  it  shrinks  to 
a  tiny  creek.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  used  much  now 
for  purposes  of  navigation,  though  it  was  once  more  im- 
portant than  the  Mersey,  the  great  river  that  carries 
the  shipping  of  Liverpool. 

The  train  bears  us  swiftly  through  the  country,  past 
towns  and  villages,  into  the  hills.  What  a  beautiful 
country!  Look  at  the  tall  mountains  just  ahead. 
We  are  approaching  the  Snowdon  Range,  the  great 
mountain  range  of  Wales.  The  mountain  is  pierced 
by  a  tunnel,  through  which  our  train  carries  us. 

The  highest  peak  in  this  range  is  also  called  Snow- 
don. It  means  a  snowy  height.  It  is  the  highest 
mountain  in  either  England  or  Wales,  rising  3,770  feet 
above  the  sea. 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       67 

The  top  of  this  mountain  is  not  more  than  six  or 
seven  yards  in  diameter  and  is  surrounded  by  a  wall. 
People  often  go  up  to  the  top  for  a  view  of  the  coun- 
try, or  to  see  the  sun  rise.  From  this  point  one  can 
see  much  of  North  Wales,  of  the  sea,  and  nearly  fifty 
lakes,  or  "tarns,"  as  the  Welsh  people  call  them.  On 


SNOW  DON. 


the  rocky  hill  sides  ponies,  sheep  and  goats  are  graz- 
ing. What  lively  animals  these  goats  are!  They 
jump  from  one  crag  to  another  as  no  other  animal 
could.  The  Welsh  people  are  very  fond  of  goats,  and 
often  make  pets  of  them. 


68      A  LITTLE    JOURNEY    TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

What  dear  little  ponies,  with  shaggy  coats  and  long 

"  manes.   We  shall  soon  want  some  of  them  for  a  ride 

through  the  mountains.     They  are  surer  footed  than 

any  human  being,  and  they  know  every  road  and  path 

for  miles  around. 

This  is  the  most  mountainous  district  that  we  shall 
see  in  North  Wales,  but*  there  are  also  extensive  moors. 
These  moors  are  tracts  of  waste  land  whose  soil  is  too 
poor  to  repay  cultivation.  They  are  usually  covered 
with  patches  of  heath  (or  heather,  as  it  is  also  called), 
and  are  sometimes  wet  and  marshy.  Peat  bogs,  too, 
are  found  on  these  moors. 

Let  us  stop  to  take  a  closer  look  at  the  heather, 
which  is  a  useful  plant,  if  it  does  grow  in  waste  places. 
Here  is  a  clump  of  it  we  can  examine.  It  is  a  low- 
growing  shrub,  with  very  small  evergreen  leaves.  It 
is  in  bloom,  and  its  clusters  of  pink  flowers  are  very 
lovely. 

The  heather  is  used  for  brooms,  for  thatching  the 
roofs  of  the  humbler  homes,  for  beds  for  the  poor,  and 
for  fuel.  We  shall  see  few  more  beautiful  sights  than 
this  field  of  heather  in  bloom. 

Now  we  come  to  Holywell  Station,  where  we  will 
stop  long  enough  to  visit  the  picturesque  ruin  of  Bas- 
ingwerk  Abbey,  which  is  close  by. 

Some  famous  dikes  are  near.  Watt's  Dike  ends 
at  the  coast  near  Basingwerk,  while  Offa's  Dike  runs 
southward  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Wye  River— 
that  is  almost  to  the  southern  part  of  Wales. 

These  dikes  are  embankments,  such  as  we  may  see 
along  the  rivers  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States, 
wherp  tbev  KSVP  been  bui1^  to  protect  low  lands  from 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       69 


70      A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND   AND   WALES. 

the  river's  overflow.     With  us  they  are  called  levees. 

Further  on  we  come  to  Conway,  an  ancient  fortified 
town.  Here  stands  Conway  Castle,  a  magnificent  fort- 
ress, now  the  most  beautiful  ruin  in  Wales. 

This  castle  was  built  by  King  Edward  I  to  hold  the 
Welsh  in  check.  The  walls  of  this  castle  are  twelve 
and  fifteen  feet  in  thickness,  and  strengthened  by 
eight  massive  circular  towers.  Here,  at  least,  we  may 
wander  about  without  guides  to  urge  us  on.  We  may 
linger  in  the  courts,  the  towers,  the  battlements,  the 
stairways,  the  banqueting  hall  and  the  chambers  as 
long  as  we  wish.  The  roof  of  the  beautiful  banquet- 
ing room  is  gone,  but  there  are  still  the  wide  fire- 
places with  their  rich  carvings.  What  fine  feasts  King 
Edward  and  his  nobles  must  have  -had  in  this  great 
old  hall. 

The  wall  about  the  town  is  1^  miles  in  length,  12 
feet  thick  and  fortified  with  towers  and  battlements. 

Conway  River  has  been  celebrated  from  earliest 
times  for  its  pearl  fisheries.  The  pearls,  which  are 
sometimes  very  valuable,  are  found  in  the  shell  of  the 
pearl  mussel. 

Near  Llandudno  is  the  vast  rocky  promontory  called 
Great  Ormes  Head,  and  the  smaller  one  called  Little 
Ormes  Head.  The  former  is  now  a  place  for  recrea- 
tion. The  cliffs  are  hollowed  out  by  the  sea  and 
abound  with  seabirds. 

The  scenery  in  rural  Wales  is  always  picturesque, 
and  often  grand  and  beautiful.  Here  and  there  are 
rounded  hills,  cultivated  to  the  top,  but  there  is  much 
land  that  is  of  little  use  for  agriculture.  There  are 
few  ploughed  fields,  as  in  England,  for  the  Welsh  do 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       71 

not  grow  much   corn.     But  in   the  cultivated  parts 
good  crops  of  grain  and  vegetables  are  grown. 

The  hills  are  occupied  by  small  mountain  sheep, 
and  Welsh  ponies  and  cattle.  There  are  old  farm 
houses,  in  which  generations  of  the  same  family  have 
dwelt,  and  pleasant  stone  cottages  mantled  with  ivy 
and  surrounded  by  roses.  Here  and  there  are  stately 
mansions  and  ruins  of  castles  and  strongholds. 

What  a  clattering  noise!  What  can  it  be?  We  are 
near  the  town  of  Bangor,  which  has  slate  quarries  that 
keep  25,000  men  busy.  Look  across  at  that  mountain- 
side and  you  will  see  a  quarry.  The  Penrhyn  slate 
quarries  are  the  largest  in  the  world  and  quarry  about 
300  tons  of  slate  every  day.  Most  of  the  slate  roofs 
of  Great  Britain  come  from  Wales. 

A  closer  view  of  the  quarry  shows  it  to  be  about 
1,000  feet  deep.  It  looks  like  a  huge  amphitheater. 
It  is  interesting  to  watch  the  men  at  work  in  the 
quarry.  Some  are  blasting,  and  some  are  splitting  and 
dressing  the  slate.  Only  a  small  part  of  the  slate  is 
quarried.  There  are  four  kinds  of  slate,  red,  blue, 
green  and  gray, — all  found  in  this  quarry.  W^e  buy 
some  little  objects  carved  in  slate  to  take  home  as 
souvenirs,  and  then  visit  the  Castle.  At  Penrhyn 
Castle  lives  Lord  Penrhyn,  who  owns  the  quarries.  It 
is  a  magnificent  place  with  a  park  seven  miles  in  cir- 
cumference. The  park  is  surrounded  by  a  high  slate 
fence,  to  keep  out  intruders. 

Bangor  is  one  of  the  oldest  cities  of  Wales.  It  has 
a  fine  cathedral  and  the  University  or  College  of  North 
Wales;  but  the  thing  that  interests  us  most  in  this 
neighborhood  are  the  two  magnificent  bridges  crossing 


72      A    LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

Menai  Strait   and  connecting  the  mainland  with  the 
island  of  Anglesey. 

The  Menai  Strait  is  the  piece  of  water  running 
between  the  island  and  the  coast.  See  the  wonderful 
bridge  that  goes  across!  It  is  the  longest  bridge  in 
Great  Britain,  and  is  so  high  that  large  ships  can  pass 


MENAI  STRAIT  SUSPENSION  BRIDGE. 

under  it  without  lowering  their  masts.  It  is  made  of 
thousands  of  pieces  of  iron  and  will  carry  the  heaviest 
trains.  This  bridge,  called  Britannia,  cost  over  half  a 
million  dollars  and  was  five  years  in  being  built. 

Crossing  to  Anglesey  we  come  to  Holyhead,  the 
market  town  of  North  Wales,  and  an  important  point 
in  Anglesey.  Holyhead  is  on  an  island  which  is  con- 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY    TO    ENGLAND    AND   WALES.       73 

nected  with  the  mainland  by  a  huge  embankment 
three  quarters  of  a  mile  in  length.  (This  is  the  termi- 
nation of  the  great  railroads  from  London  and  Chester, 
and  the  most  convenient  point  from  which  to  depart 
for  Ireland.) 

There  is  a  great  pier,   nearly    1,000  feet  in  length, 


CAERNARVON  CASTLE,  WALES 

upon  which  is  a  marble  arch,  that  was  erected  in 
honor  of  the  visit  of  King  George  IV.  in  1821.  On 
South  Stack,  a  lonely  rock  three  miles  west,  is  a  light- 
house, which  has  a  powerful  light,  212  feet  above  high 
water  mark.  If  we  wish,  we  may  go  up  and  inspect 
its  great  lamps,  for  there  are  twenty-one  in  all,  with 


74       A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

powerful  reflectors,  which  at  night  throw  out  their 
light  to  guide  the  ships  safely  into  port. 

The  promontory  of  the  Head  is  an  immense  preci- 
pice, which  affords  shelter  for  innumerable  seabirds, 
such  as  gulls,  cormorants,  herons  and  razor-bills.  On 
the  highest  crag  is  the  home  of  the  peregrine  falcon, 
ihe  bird  so  greatly  esteemed  when  falconry  was  the 
fashionable  sport  of  the  nobles. 

Journeying  on  we  come  to  Caernarvon,  an  old,  old 
town  situated  on  the  Menai  Strait.  Its  Castle  is  re- 
garded as  the  finest  in  the  kingdom  and  was  designed 
by  the  architect  of  Conway  Castle.  This  was  also 
built  by  Edward  the  First,  and  it  was  here  that  the 
first  Prince  of  Wales  was  born.  The  oldest  son  of 
Great  Britain's  ruling  monarch  is  still  called  the  Prince 
of  Wales. 

Leaving  Caernarvon  we  find  our  surroundings 
changed  almost  at  once.  Great,  bleak  hills  rise  about 
us.  The  green  hedges  give  place  to  stone  walls.  The 
pastures  are  wild  and  rocky.  From  the  town  of  Dan- 
beris  we  drive  through  the  famous  pass  of  Danberis. 
For  miles  we  are  shut  in  by  the  great  bare  mountains, 
with  just  space  for  the  roadway. 

Merioneth  has  much  of  the  most  beautiful  scenery 
of  Wales.  Its  lofty  mountains  contain  deep,  dark 
dells.  Rich  foliage  covers  its  crags.  There  are  wide 
sea  views;  and  rivers,  lakes  and  waterfalls  add  to  the 
attraction.  In  the  higher  altitudes  the  climate  is  bleak, 
while  in  the  lower  lands  myrtle  grows  in  the  open  air. 

Near  Dolgelly,  the  most  important  town  in  Merioneth, 
are  many  celebrated  waterfalls.  The  most  magnificent 
one  of  all  is  a  narrow  stream  rushing  down  a  rugged 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       75 


76    >  A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO    ENGLAND    AND   WALES. 

slope,  at  least  150  feet  in  descent.  Large  fragments 
of  rock  scattered  about  at  the  bottom  of  the  fall  give 
a  look  of  wild  desolation  to  the  scene. 

At  Mil  ford  Haven,  in  Pembrokeshire,  we  find  one 
of  Great  Britain's  finest  harbors.  To  the  eye  it  has 
the  appearance  of  an  immense  lake,  and  is  so  land- 


BRTTWYS-Y-COED   (SWALLOW   FALLS),  WALES. 

locked,  or  enclosed  by  jutting  points  of  land,  as  to  be 
secure  from  winds  and  tempests.  This  is  important, 
for  Pembroke,  while  having  a  climate  that  is  warm 
and  mild,  is  exposed  to  severe  gales. 

Flowers,  fruit  and  vegetables  are  produced  earlier 
here  than  in  most  other  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
The  homes  of  the  farmers  are  comfortable  and  are 
generally  built  of  stone,  but  the  cottages  of  the  peas- 
ants are  mostly  huts  built  of  a  clay  and  straw  com- 
pound called  "clorn," 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND   AND   WALES.      77 

A  WELSH  HOME. 

Let  us  stop  for  awhile  at  this  farmer's  home.  How 
pretty  it  is!  The  roof  is  thatched  and  the  lattice  win- 
dows filled  with  flowers.  Climbing  roses  and  vines 
almost  cover  the  walls.  Behind  the  house  is  an  orch- 
ard of  apple  and  pear  trees. 

Inside  the  rooms  are  neat,  clean  and  attractive. 
White  curtains  are  at  the  windows;  and  a  cheerful  fire 
blazes  upon  the  hearth,  for  the  day  is  chilly.  On 
either  side  of  this  fire-place  is  an  old  oaken  settee. 
Against  the  wall  is  a  dresser,  on  which  are  displayed 
some  curious  pieces  of  old  china.  Not  a  speck  of  dust 
or  dirt  can  be  seen  anywhere — not  even  in  the  kitchen 
grate. 

A  man  and  a  woman  seated  in  the  room  rise  as  we 
enter.  The  man  is  tall  and  strong;  he  wears  a  white 
coat  of  coarse  cloth  (frieze),  corduroy  breeches  coming 
to  the  knee,  gray  woolen  stockings,  and  stout  shoes. 
His  wife  wrears  a  long,  blue,  woolen  gown,  crimson  pet- 
ticoat and  white  apron,  broad  shoes  with  buckles,  and 
a  kind  of  round  hat. 

When  the  Welsh  people  meet  each  other  their  greet- 
ings are  peculiar,  and  to  us  would  appear  tedious. 
" How  is  thy  heart?"  they  ask.  Then  "How  are  the  good 
wife  at  home,  the  children  and  the  rest  of  the  family?" 

These  country  people  are  always  hospitable.  A 
stranger  may  travel  amongst  them  without  any  ex- 
pense for  food  or  lodging.  Their  fare  may  be  coarse, 
but  it  is  wholesome,  consisting  of  bread  or  oatmeal, 
with  milk,  butter,  cheese,  and  potatoes;  also  with  fish 
if  they  are  near  streams  or  the  seashore.  In  winter 
they  have  bacon,  dry  salted  beef,  mutton,  and  smoked 
venison. 


78         A   LITTLE  JORNEY  TO  ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 

The  farmers'  wives  are  thrifty  and  saving.  Fami- 
lies are  large.  Ten  or  twelve  children  is  the  usual 
number  among  the  farmers'  families.  Most  of  the 
women  are  strong,  and  are  great  workers  and  walkers. 

Even  among  the  wealthy  farmers  the  wives  look 
after  the  dairy,  and  make  the  butter  and  cheese. 
They  entertain  a  great  deal  if  they  live  near  a  city, 


A  WELSH  HOME. 


and  a  meal  in  one  of  these  homes  will  long  be  remem- 
bered, for  the  women  are  famous  cooks. 

The  women  of  Wales  engage  in  almost  all  occupa- 
tions that  are  open  to  men.  They  are  commonly  to 
be  seen  at  work  in  the  fields,  and  are  employed  as  por- 
ters, ticket  sellers,  station  keepers,  and  in  banks  and 
offices.  They  enjoy  outdoor  labor,  and  do  not  con- 
sider it  beneath  them.  They  may  be  seen  in  groups 
in  the  fields,  singing  and  laughing  at  their  work. 

The  Welshmen  are  hard  workers;  many   of  them 


A  LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES.       79 

find  their  employment  in  the  mines  and  quarries, 
where  the  toil  is  most  severe  and  the  hours  of  labor 
long.  Their  holidays  they  spend  smoking  their  pipes 


OLD  WELSH  COSTUMES. 


in  their  cabins,  or  walking  about  the  fields  and  roads 
near    by.     Though    hospitable,    they    practice   close 


80       A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES. 

economy,  and  are  shrewd  and  crafty  in  their  dealings, 
In  the  west  of  Wales,  at  Glamargan,  there  are  num- 
bers of  women  who  get  their  living  by  selling  cockles. 
They  go  about  their  daily  rounds  crying,  "Cockles, 
fresh  cockles,  fine  cockles!  Will  you  buy  my  fresh 
cockles?"  These  cockles  are  much  in  demand  in 
Welsh  market  places. 

Very  picturesque  figures  these  cockle  women  are. 
They  often  wear  short  dresses  of  red  and  black  flan- 
nel, which  are  turned  up  in  front  and  pinned  close  m 
under  the  waist  at  the  back.  Flannel  aprons  protect 
the  dresses.  Snowy  kerchiefs  are  worn  about  the 
throat,  and  sometimes  neat  white  caps  under  the 
Welsh  hats.  Little  shawls  are  worn  over  the  shoul- 
ders. 

In  the  west  part  of  Wales  we  see  the  old  Welsh  cos- 
tumes, which  the  people  in  other  parts  of  Wales  have 
laid  aside.  Here  the  women  still  wear  tall  beaver 
hats  with  broad  brims  that  look  somewhat  like  the 
stove-pipe  hats  worn  by  men  years  ago.  These  women 
wear  short  gray  or  red  flannel  skirts,  black  or  red 
dresses,  long  pointed  bodices  hooked  in  front,  and  flan- 
nel aprons.  Kerchief  and  cap  complete  the  costume0 

WELSH  flARRIAQES. 

A  marriage  among  the  Welsh  is  surrounded  by 
many  curious  customs  which  have  survived  from  old 
times.  On  the  occasion  of  the  marriage,  a  "bidder" 
goes  from  house  to  house  inviting  guests  to  the  wed- 
ding. The  ceremony  always  takes  place  on  a  Satur- 
day, but  the  guests  assemble  on  Friday  with  their 
presents.  On  Saturday  ten  to  twenty  of  the  groom'? 


A   LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND   AND    WALES.      81 

friends  who  are  best  mounted,  go  to  demand  the 
bride.  She  is  placed  on  a  horse  behind  her  father, 
who  rides  off  as  fast  as  he  can.  He  is  soon  overtaken, 
however,  and  the  bride  brought  back.  Presents  con- 
tinue to  be  received  on  Saturday  and  Sunday,  and  on 
Monday  they  are  sold.  Sometimes  quite  an  amount 
is  received  from  the  sale,  perhaps  two  hundred  or 
three  hundred  dollars,  which  is  quite  a  help  to  the 
young  country  couple. 

FAIRS. 

Wales  is  said  to  be  the  greatest  country  in  the 
world  for  fairs.  We  begin  to  think  this  is  true,  for 
wherever  we  go  we  find  the  people  holding  out-of- 
door  fairs  of  some  sort. 

We  are  going  now  to  attend  one  of  these  gatherings 
just  a  little  way  down  the  street  of  this  country  town. 
The  country  roads  and  streets  are  filled  with  people 
all  bound  for  the  fair.  There  are  many  farmers,  some 
of  the  tradespeople  of  the  town,  and  servants  of  the 
well-to-do  people  who  own  country  places  near  by. 
Donkey  carts  go  past  laden  with  cherries,  hazel  nuts 
and  other  good  things  to  tempt  the  buyer  at  the  fair. 

On  the  grounds  we  find  tents  for  the  sale  of  food, 
fruits  and  drinks.  Peddlers  walk  about  with  various 
articles  for  sale.  Here  is  one  with  canes  or  walking 
sticks.  He  carries  them  in  a  deep  old  willow  basket, 
shaped  like  a  section  of  stovepipe. 

Among  the  things  to  amuse  the  people  we  see  a  big 
image  like  a  great  jumping- jack:  it  is  six  feet  high, 
with  a  "pudding"  in  its  stomach,  and  bells  on  its 
head.  The  "pudding"  is  of  cloth  with  some  soft 


82      A   LITTLE    JOURNEY    TO    ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 

stuffing,  and  by  striking  this  you  test  your  strength. 
When  you  hit  it  a  straight  blow  the  bells  ring,  thus 
showing  your  force  and  skill. 

There  are  other  strength  testers,  games  of  chance, 
etc.  There  is  a  shooting  gallery,  attended  by  a  big, 
good-natured  girl. 

Out-of-door  fairs  of  various  sorts  are  held  all  over 
Wales  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  These  gatherings 
had,  as  their  original  purpose,  the  bringing  together  of 
the  people  for  the  purpose  of  selling  and  buying  the 
produce  of  the  country.  Many  of  them  now  are 
wholly  for  pleasure  and  for  racing. 

Before  large  towns  existed,  all  sorts  of  goods  and 
necessaries  of  life,  which  can  now  be  bought  in  shops, 
were  sold  at  these  fairs,  and  everybody  went  to  them. 

Among  the  different  sorts  of  fairs  are  the  horse 
shows,  flower  shows,  Christmas  shows,  fat  cattle  shows, 
poultry  shows,  etc.;  while  other  gatherings  bear  such 
unique  names  as  Warm  Fair,  Winter  Fair,  Midsum- 
mer Fair,  Martinmas  Fair,  October  Fair,  April  Fair, 
Dish  Fair,  Pear  Fair — a  list  without  end. 

Llangellen  Fair  is  one  held  principally  for  purposes 
of  barter.  It  is  held  in  a  little  square  in  the  town, 
half  way  across  which  extends  a  row  of  carts  filled 
with  pigs.  Near  by  stand  the  owners,  men  and 
women,  dickering  with  the  buyers.  The  pigs  are 
small,  and  the  buyers  carry  them  away  in  their  arms, 
while  the  porkers  squeal. 

Cattle  are  sold  at  this  fair,  also;  and  a  curious  cus- 
tom is  that  each  bargain  is^concluded  with  a  slap  of 
the  hand  between  buyer  and  seller. 

The  Hiring  Fair  is  a  peculiar  institution,  to  which 


A    LITTLE  JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND  AND  WALES.      83 

come  serving  men  and   maidens  in  vast  number,  and 
farmers  in  search  of  toilers  for  the  coming  year. 

We  cannot  pause  at  every  point  of  interest,  for,  if  we 
did,  we  should  hardly  make  any  progress  at  all.  Yet 
there  are  some  points  it  will  not  do  to  miss,  and  one  of 
these  is  Llanfyllin,  where  a  market  is  held  every  Thurs- 


A  WELSH  GIRL  CROSSING  A  FORD. 


day.  Here  also  are  held  six  annual  fairs,  the  chief 
purpose  of  which  is  to  bring  in  the  celebrated  Welsh 
ponies,  called  Merlins,  for  sale.  On  these  days  the 
usually  quiet  town  is  transformed  into  a  very  busy 
place.  Early  in  the  morning  the  farmers  and  breeders 
of  ponies  from  the  country  all  about  may  be  seen  on 
every  road  leading  into  Llanfyllin,  each  one  with  a 
large  or  small  herd  of  the  ponies. 


84      A  LITTLE    JOURNEY  TO   ENGLAND    AND  WALES. 

In  the  town  the  streets  are  soon  thronged,  the  lively 
little  animals  being  the  center  of  attraction.  Buyers 
come  from  a  distance,  and  bargaining,  buying  and 
selling  go  on  at  a  lively  rate. 

A  local  fair  worth  visiting  is  the  Cattle  Fair  in  the 
old  town  of  Carmarthen.  This  place  was  once  the 
capital  of  Wales,  for  centuries  the  seat  of  kings  and 
the  home  of  the  Welsh  Parliament.  It  is  now  a  dull 
agricultural  town,  and  its  streets  are  busy  only  on 
great  market  and  fair  days.  At  this  fair  no  language 
but  Welsh  is  heard — the  hawkers  cry  their  wares  in 
Welsh,  and  all  bartering  is  conducted  in  that  language. 

MUSICAL  FESTIVALS 

The  Welsh  people  are  extremely  fond  of  music. 
Singing  seems  as  natural  to  them  as  to  the  birds.  The 
mother  sings  to  her  babe  in  the  cradle;  the  children  sing 
on  their  way  to  school;  the  workmen  in  the  fields  sing 
to  their  horses,  and  the  milk-maid  sings  to  the  cows. 

There  is  singing  at  the  feasts,  fairs  and  festivals,  at 
churches  .and  at  funerals.  The  people  seem  especially 
fond  of  ^ar  songs  and  we  often  hear  "The  March  of 
the  Men  of  Harlech." 

The  Welsh  people  hold  every  year  a  National  Song 
Congress.  This  is  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging 
music,  Welsh  literature,  the  making  of  songs  similar 
to  those  sung  by  the  old  Bards,  to  maintain  the  Welsh 
language  and  customs,  and  to  promote  patriotism. 

The  bards  were  professional  poets  and  singers,  whose 
occupation  was  to  compose  and  sing  verses  in  honor  of 
the  heroic  deeds  of  princes  and  brave  men.  It  was 
through  them  that  much  of  the  history  of  the  early 


A  LITTLE   JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND    AND  WALES.       85 

times  was  preserved,  as  their  songs  and  verses,  though 
not  written,  were  taught  by  parents  to  children  from 
one  generation  to  another,  and  so  kept  from  being  for- 
gotten. 

This  festival  is  called  the  Eisteddfod.  Every  little 
town  has  also  its  Eisteddfod  conducted  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  great  festival. 

When  a  National  festival  is  held  the  trains  bring  in 
thousands  of  people  from  the  towns  and  country  round 
about.  Before  noon  the  place  is  crowded  with  people 
and  vehicles.  In  this  crowd  are  noblemen  and  peas- 
ants, fashionable  city  people  and  plain  country  folk, 
clergymen  and  priests,  Druids  and  Bards,  and  musi- 
cians without  number. 

There  are  celebrated  harpists  and  great  choirs,  some 
of  them  numbering  five  hundred  voices.  m  The  persons 
representing  the  Druids  and  Bards  conduct  a  cere- 
mony similar  to  that  conducted  hundreds  of  years 
ago  when  the  Druids  and  Bards  were  real  people. 

All  the  Welsh  people  love  poetry,  and  many  com- 
pose and  recite  it.  At  the  festival  of  the  Eisteddfod, 
prizes  and  medals  are  given  to  the  successful  contest- 
ants for  original  poems,  stories  and  songs,  for  choral 
and  solo  singing,  for  singing  with  the  harp,  and  to  the 
best  performers  on  the  harp  or  stringed  or  wind  in- 
struments. 

The  highest  object  of  a  Welsh  Bard's  ambition  is  to 
be  the  winner  at  these  festivals  and  to  receive  the  re- 
ward, which  is  to  be  seated  in  a  silver  chair.  This 
ceremony  is  imposing  and  is  performed  with  sound  of 
trumpets. 

The  people  value  education  very  highly  and  make 


86      A   LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND.  AND  WALES 

great  sacrifices  in  order  to  educate  their  families.  The 
population  of  Wales  is  less  than  2,000,000,  yet  they 
have  four  colleges  and  many  schools. 

CARDIFF. 

Cardiff,  at  the  mouth  of  the  River  Taff,  is  the  me- 
tropolis of  Wales,  and  the  second  most  important  sea- 
port town  in  the  country.  It  has  a  population  ol 
200,000.  The  docks  of  Cardiff  are  famed  the  world 
over.  They  were  built  by  the  Marquis  of  Bute,  and 
cost  over  five  million  dollars.  At  the  docks,  which 
are  walled  about  with  stone  piers,  are  found  great  ocean 
steamers  from  every  land.  More  steamers  land  here 
than  at  London,  and  the  place  is  of  so  much  impor- 
tance that  the  United  States  sent  a  consul  to  the  port. 

We  find  the  streets  broad  and  clean.  The  houses, 
instead  of  being  numbered,  are  given  pretty  names,  by 
which  they  are  always  known.  In  the  country  the 
same  plan  is  followed.  More  than  fifty  churches  may 
be  counted  here,  and  we  find  that  in  them  only  the 
Welsh  language  is  spoken. 

Cardiff  is  the  center  of  England's  greatest  coal  and 
iron  region.  It  has  the  largest  coal-shipping  trade 
in  the  world,  and  exports  large  quantities  of  iron,  and 
manufactures  from  the  southern  part  of  Wales.  The 
New  South  Wales  University  at  this  place  has  over 
3,000  students. 

Another  city  of  importance  in  the  southern  part  of 
Wales  is  Swansea,  a  busy  place  of  over  100,000  inhab- 
itants, at  the  mouth  of  the  Tarve.  It  is  the  chief 
center  of  the  tin-plate  trade  of  England,  and  is  one  of 
the  most  important  copper-smelting  centers  in  the 


A   LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO   ENGLAND  AND  WALES.      87 

world.    The  copper  is  r  ot  found  in  this  part  of  Wales, 
but  is  brought  from  Cornwall  and  from  foreign  coun- 
tries to  be  manufactured  here,  because  of  the  abund-  ! 
ance  and  cheapness  of  fuel. 

Our  last  visit  will  be  to  the  town  of  St.  David's, 
where  we  see  St.  David's  Cathedral,  the  finest  and 
most  interesting  church  in  Wales.  Perhaps  you  won- 
der who  Saint  David  was  or  is.  He  is  the  patron 
saint  of  Wales.  A  patron  saint  is  one  who  is  a  spec- 
ial protector  of  a  country,  place  or  community. 

This  man,  who  was  a  prince,  devoted  his  life  to 
good  deeds  and  to  teaching  the  people  the  Christian 
religion.  The  people  of  Wales  have  never  forgotten 
him,  and  every  year  on  the  third  of  March  religious  ex- 
ercises are  held  in  the  magnificent  cathedral  that 
bears  his  name.  The  place  is  now  in  ruins,  yet  *o 
beautiful  is  it  that  in  all  England  there  is  no  fii  er  , 

church. 

RELIGION. 

The  people  of  Wales  are  very  religious,  and  they 
have  shown  their  devotion  to  their  church  by  erecting 
many  fine  chapels  throughout  the  country. 

A  hundred  years  ago  it  was  a  very  unusual  thing  • 
to  see  a  copy  of  the  Bible  in  the  home  of  a  poor  f am-  ; 
ily  in  Wales.    You  will  be   interested,  I    think,   to 
know  how  it  happens  that  the  Bible  is  found  in  every 
home  to-day,  because  it  came  through  the  efforts  of  a 
poor  little  peasant  Welsh  girl. 

This  child's  name  was  Mary  Jones.  She  had  been 
taught  something  of  the  Bible  in  one  of  the  schools, 
and  was  very  anxious  to  study  it.  A  farmer  who 
lived  two  miles  from  her  home  gave  her  permission  to 


88      A  LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO    ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 

read  his  copy.  Every  week  after  this  for  six  years 
Mary  walked,  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  to  the  home  of 
this  man  to  read  this  Bible.  She  began  at  the  same 
time  to  save  up  her  pennies  to  buy  a  book  for  herself. 
Think  of  saving  your  pennies  so  long  as  that  for  a 
book!  At  last  she  had  enough,  and  walked  fifty  miles 
to  make  her  purchase. 

The  minister  of  whom  she  bought  the  book  told  the 
story  to  the  members  of  a  tract  society,  and  suggested 
the  need  of  a  society  that  would  furnish  Bibles  to  peo- 
ple who  were  too  poor  to  buy.  The  people  were  much 
touched  by  the  story,  and  the  result  was  the  forma- 
tion of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  which 
has  since  caused  the  Bible  to  be  printed  in  every  lan- 
guage and  circulated  all  over  the  world. 

And  now  good-bye  to  England  and  Wales,  for  our 
month  is  ended,  and  we  must  be  on  our  way  to  Scot- 
land. 


A    LITTLE    JOURNEY   TO  ENGLAND    AND    WALES.      89 

YE  MARINERS  OF  ENGLAND. 

Ye  mariners  of  England, 

That  guard  our  native  seas! 
Whose  flag  has  braved  a  thousand  years 

The  battle  and  the  breeze! 
Your  glorious  standard  launch  again 

To  match  another  foe, 
And  sweep  through  the  deep, 

While  the  stormy  winds  do  blow; 
While  the  battle  rages  loud  and  long 

And  the  stormy  winds  do  blow. 

The  spirits  of  your  fathers 

Shall  start  from  every  wave— 
For  the  deck  it  was  their  field  of  fame, 

And  ocean  was  their  grave ; 
Where  Blake  and  mighty  Nelson  fell 

Your  manly  hearts  shall  glow, 
As  ye  sweep  through  the  deep, 

While  the  stormy  winds  do  blow; 
While  the  battle  rages  loud  and  long 

And  the  stormy  winds  do  blow. 

Britannia  needs  no  bulwarks, 

No  towers  along  the  steep; 
Her  march  is  o'er  the  mountain  waves, 

Her  home  is  on  the  deep; 
With  thunders  from  her  native  oak 

She  quells  the  floods  below— 
As  they  roar  on  the  shore, 

When  the  stormy  winds  do  blow; 
When  the  battle  rages  loud  and  long, 

And  the  stormy  winds  do  blow. 

The  meteor  flag  of  England; 

Shall  yet  terrific  burn, 
Till  danger's  troubled  night  depart, 

And  the  star  of  peace  return. 

I 


90      A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  ENGLAND  AND  WALES. 

Then,  then,  ye  ocean  warriors! 

Our  song  and  feast  shall  flow 
To  the  fame  of  your  name, 

When  the  storm  has  ceased  to  blow; 
When  the  fiery  fight  is  heard  no  more, 

And  the  storm  has  ceased  to  blow. 

—Thomas  Campbell. 

SEAFARERS. 

•fhe  traders  that  hail  from  the  Clyde, 
And  the  whalers  that  sail  from  Dundee, 

Put  forth  in  their  season  on  top  of  the  tide 
To  gather  the  grist  of  the  sea, 
To  ply  in  the  lanes  of  the  sea. 

By  fairway  and  channel  and  sound, 
By  shoal  and  deep  water  they  go, 

Guessing  the  course  by  the  feel  of  the  ground, 
Or  chasing  the  drift  of  the  floe — 
Nor 'west,  in  the  track  of  the  floe. 

And  we  steer  them  to  harbor  afar, 
At  hazard  we  win  them  abroad, 

When  the  coral  is  furrowed  by  keels  on  the  bar, 
And  the  sea-floor  is  swept  by  the  Lord, 
The  anchorage  dredged  by  the  Lord. 

And  what  of  the  cargo  ye  bring, 
For  the  venture  ye  bore  over  seas? 

What  of  the  treasure  ye  put  forth  to  wring 
From  the  chances  of  billow  and  breeze? 
In  spite  of  the  billow  and  breeze. 

Oh,  we  carry  the  keys  of  the  earth, 
And  the  password  of  Empire  we  bear 

Wherever  the  beaches  held  promise  of  worth, 
We  'stablished  your  sovereignty  there; 
We  planted  our  flag  over  there. 

PERCIVAL  GIBBON,  in  the  London  Spectator. 


THE  MILLER  OF  THE  DEE. 


CHARLES  MACKAY. 


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'Thou'rt  wrong,  my  Mend!"  said  old  King  Hal, 
The     mill  •  er  smiled  and  doffed  his  cap 
'Good  Mend,  "  said  Hal,and  sighed  the  while, 

0        m 

Be  -side  the  riv  -  er      Dee; 
''As  wrong  as  wrong  can   be; 
"I  earn  my  bread,"  quoth  he; 
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He  wrought  and  sang  from  morn  till  night,  No  lark  more  blithe  than  he; 
For  could  my  heart  be  light    as  thine,  I'd  glad  -  ly  change  with  thee. 
*'I    love   my  wife,     I    love  my  friend,  I    love    my  chil-dren  three. 
But    say    no  more,  if  thou'dst  be  true,  That  no  one    en-  vies  thee; 

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And  this   the  bur  -  den   of     his  song  For  -  ev  -  er  used    to     be, 
And  tell   me  now  what  makes  thee  sing  With  voice  so  loud  and  free, 
I       owe    no  debt     I    can  -  not  pay,   I  thank  the  riv  -  er     Dee 
Thy  meal  •  y    cap      is  worth  my  crown ;  Thy  mill  my  kingdom's  fee ! 


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*'I  en  -  vy  no  one — no,  not  I!  And  no  one  en  -  vies  me!" 
While  I  am  sad,  tho'  I'm  the  King,  Be-side  the  riv  -  er  Dee?" 
That  turns  the  mill  that  grinds  the  corn  To  feed  my  babes  and  me!" 
Such  men  as  thou  are  England's  boast,  O  mill  -  er  ~f  ***-  -n—i>» 


of      the    Dee!' 


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MARCH  OF  THE  MEN  OF  HARLECH. 


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I.  Men      of  Har  -  lech!    in     the    hoi-  low,     Do     ye    hear,  like 
2.  Rock  -  y  steeps  and   pass  -  es     nar  -  row   Flash  with  spear  and 

rush  -  ing    bil  -  low,  Wave     on  wave    that  surg  -  ing     fol 
flight  of     ar  -  row,  Who  would  think    of   death  or      sor 

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t—  VJ2  j  J  1    1       *  S.  —  J  I 

Sax  -  on      foe  -men,     Sax  -  on  spear-men,    Sax  -  on    bow-  men; 
horse-man     o  -  ver,     Let    the  earth  dead    foe  -  men  cov  •  er! 

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Be  they  knights,or  hinds, or    yoe-men,  They  shall  bite  the  groundl 
Fate    of  friend,  of  wife,    of     lov  •  er,  Trem-bles  on      a    blowl 


Loose  the  folds    a  -  sun  ^  der,      Flag  we  con  -  quer  un-der!      The 
Strands  of   life    are   riv  -  en;        Blow  for  blow    is    giv  •  en       In 


plac  -  id  sky,  now  bright  on  high,  Shall  launch  its  bolts  in  thunder! 
dead  -  ly  lock,  or   bat  -  tie  shock,  And  mer-cy  shrieks  to  heav-en! 


i    i    i 


i  i 

Onward! 'tis  our  country  needs  us;     He    is  brav-est,he  wholeadsus! 
Men  of  Harlech !  young  or  hoar-y,  Would  you  win  a  name  in    sto-  ry ! 


*=* 


Hon  -  or's  self  now  proud-ly  heads  us!  Freedom!  God,  and  Right! 
Strike  for  home,  for  life,    for     glo  -  ry !  Freedom!  God,  and  Right! 


A  LIBRARY  OF  TRAVEL 

Little  Journeys  to  Every  Land 

Edited  by  Marian  M.  George 

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Attractive  stories  are  used  to  impart  vividness  to  every  virtue  or  ethical  principle 
described.  It  gives  lessons  on  the  growth  of  character  by  showing  conduct  charc- 
teristic  of  true  life.  Besides  the  stories  there  are  instructions,  questions  and  sug- 
gestions. Stories  are  for  inculcating  lessons  on  Truth,  Justice,  Wisdom,  Benevo- 
lence and  Self-Control.  Excellent  for  opening  exercises.  232  pages.  Cloth. 
.• Price,  60  cents 

Patriotic  Quotations 

A  collection  of  over  300  quotations  relating  to  American  history.  The  only  book 
of  the  kind  published.  Should  be  in  every  schoolroom Price,  25  cents 

Young  Folks'  Book  of  Etiquette,  The 

By  Caroline  C.  Griffin.  Topics  discussed:  Politeness  at  Home;  At  School;  Man- 
ners in  Public  Places— the  Train,  Church  Manners;  Table  Etiquette;  Letters  and 
Notes;  Bits  of  Politeness. 

In  this  little  book  the  different  topics  are  treated  in  a  plain,  sensible,  reliable 
manner.  Every  boy  and  girl,  no  matter  what  his  home  training  may  be,  will  be 
benefited  by  the  use  of  this  little  work  in  school.  A  handsome  book.  Cloth. 
Gilt  top Price,  35  cents 

A.    FLANAGAN    COMPANY.    CHICAGO 


Marian  M.  George's  Books 


and 


Publications  for   Teachers 


Primary  Plan  Books,  10  numbers,  September   to  June,   each  25  cents. 

The  Intermediate  Plan  Books,  10  numbers,  September  to  June,  each 
25  cents. 

Character  Building,  6  numbers,  one  each  on  Kindness,  Industry  Obed- 
ience Charity,  Cheerfulness,  Honesty  Each  25  cents. 

Little  Journeys,  a  Library  of  Travel  for  young  people  to  supplement 
geography  work,  14  numbers  in  cloth,  50  cents  each. 

Songs  in  Season,  cloth,  75  cents.      Paper  50  cents. 
Stories  in  Season,  paper,  30  cents. 

How  to  Sleep,  a  book  of  suggestions  for  the  overworked  teacher, 
50  cents. 

Christmas  in  Other  Lands,  Christmas  Entertainments,  Language, 
Literature,  Music,  etc.,  25  cents. 

Washington  and  Lincoln,  plans  for  celebrating  these  days  and  for 
language  and  literary  work,  price  25  cents. 

Suggestions  for  Seat  work,  manual  of  64  pages,  suggestions  enough 
for  September  to  June,  15  cents. 

How  Little  Cedric  Became  a  Knight,  arranged  for  use  of  teachers 
15  cents.  Pupil's  edition,  the  story  only,  5  cents. 

Citizenship  Report  Cards,  same  size  as  the  ordinary  monthly  report 
card  but  showing  pupil's  grade,  rank  of  class  as  a  citizen  in  the 
school  community,  per  dozen  10  cents. 

Commendation  Cards,  to  be  presented  to  the  pupil  for  improvement, 
per  dozen  10  cents. 


A.  Flanagan  Company,  Chicago 


YC  44075 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


